Mission Statement

Athens, 508 B.C.E.

Cleisthenes, plagued by a suffering city state, with no true political system that could last, creates an ingenious structure that they deem "demokratia" which means "rule by the people". To structure this properly, with enough divided power to prevent tyranny, Cleisthenes reorganizes his people into multiple civic 'tribes' in hopes of breaking the wealth structure down further. 

Structurally sound, demokratia protects Cleisthenes for a time, but corruption seeps through the cracks of his society, ultimately showing in some major precursors that we may recognize even today. While "rule by the people" sounds like a beautiful, unbiased way of structuring politics in a society, in ancient Athens, this truly meant "rule by men". Women did not have the same basic freedoms as men, as at this time in human society, pretty much globally, women were not considered to be the head of the household, or equals to a man, or in many cases, even considered legally a person. We can break this down even further, as Athens encouraged and was built upon the enslavement of people, with their population at the time being infamously about one-third enslaved individuals. So now, instead of "rule by men", we have "rule by Athenians", which essentially proves that the only real individuals who received a new unseen political power, that they hadn't had before, was the Athenian males, primarily the wealthier ones who were not quite political elites. 

Athens, 404-403 B.C.E.

The year of the 'thirty tyrants' is what truly led to the ultimate collapse of humanities’ first democracy. The city of Sparta, Athens' bitter rival in history, at this point, is implementing pro-Spartan governments within Athens, to corrupt their democracy, and lead to internal turmoil and distrust amongst the citizens. Conservative 'Critias'; political and military figures within Spartan government, made the main push for this espionage-style destruction of their enemy. At the end of the Peloponnesian War of 404 B.C.E., Spartan general, Lysander implemented the first pro-Spartan leader, after the surrender of Athens. Over the next year or so of this point in history, thousands of Athenians would be wrongly executed, thousands more were stripped of their rights, properties were seized, and all identities were lost. While Athenian government would make small recovery, it would only be less than a century before Athenian society would completely collapse. 

Athens, 322 B.C.E.

On verge of collapse, Athenian democracy has been under siege for nearly a century at this point in history. Phocion, under immense stress from the invading forces of Macedonia, sees his opportunity for self-preservation and surrenders his city, and his people, to Macedonian rule. Almost immediately, the people of Athens are suppressed, their already destroyed democracy is finally laid to rest, and after the initial golden era in 500s B.C.E. and the structural collapse that followed during the era of the 'thirty tyrants', we see the birth, life, and death of humanities first ever democratic political structure. 

Phocion of Athens was executed in 318 B.C.E. for treason. 

Now that we have provided a brief origin story to what democracy is, shown how fragile it can be, and how important it is that facts are not diluted during periods in which democracy struggles, we look to modern day; where political discourse and division is at an all time high in the United States. Understanding our own history is the first step to the prevention of repeating similar mistakes; we hear it all the time, but it is true. That is the goal of The Politi-Geek; to provide the facts of modern issues, with historical analysis and unbiased political observations.