Trump’s rise and mob rule

QUESTION The approach of Donald Trump to government has been described as an ‘ochlocracy’. What does this mean? OchlOcracy stems from the Greek okhlokratia: from okhlos (mob) and kratos (rule or power). It refers to the chaotic, unpredictable character of mob rule.

Under democracy, decisionmaking is done by elected citizens. It’s the reason we aren’t ruled daily by referendums.

The term okhlokratia appears to have been coined by the Greek historian Polybius (c. 200c. 118 Bc), who introduced it in Book IV of his histories, in which he described the rise of the roman republic.

Polybius’s theory of anacyclosis described the evolution of systems of government through these stages: monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, ochlocracy and back to monarchy. he thought the best form was a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.

rome in the third century Bc faced a class struggle between the wealthy patricians and the more numerous plebeians. Quintus hortensius came to power by taking the plebeian side of the argument.

he set up the lex hortensia, under which resolutions passed by the plebeians didn’t have to be approved by the elite of the Senate. This is where our word plebiscite originates.

Donald Trump is a modern Quintus hortensius, passing laws agreed by a majority of plebeians (today’s so-called ‘deplorables’) whose voice has been suppressed for years by the liberal elite. DavidRushton, Marlow, Bucks. QUESTION How accurate has Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner proved in its predictions of what the world would be like in 2019? FUrTher to the earlier answer, the major piece of technology not predicted by Blade runner was mobile phones. Randal Scott, Portstewart, Co. Londonderry.