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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012
CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM
Volume 158, No. 201
Pericles sets example for today’s leaders
reat ideas are
typically born out of
great need. Getting
people to change
direction, to abandon
the status quo, is no easy task.
There is no doubt great comfort,
a sense of safety and the known,
in merely continuing to do things
in the same way as did those who
came before.
So it was out of a great need
— the threat of death and
slavery at the hands of the
majestic and intrepid Persian
army — that the ancient Greeks
discovered the idea of personal
liberty, some 2,500 years ago.
And it was at Athens, the site of
so much struggle and uncertainty today, that ideas of
freedom and democracy gelled
for the first time into an
organized political system based
on these two ideas.
Of course, Athens and its rival
Sparta eventually led the disorganized city-states of Greece to
victory over the Persians.
Without that, today’s world
would be a very different place.
The American democracy would
have never existed.
Athens’ greatest leader,
Pericles — the very definition of
a true statesman — guided the
Athenian democracy from 461 to
429 B.C. Pericles oversaw
unprecedented Athenian developments in national freedom,
self-government and personal
freedom. This included the
equality of all citizens, free
markets and the right of an
Athenian to live as he chooses.
There is no greater statement
of Athens’ values than Pericles’
Funeral Oration. Pericles
delivered the speech to
commemorate Athenians who
had fallen in battle with the
Spartans after the first year of
the Peloponnesian War. In it,
Pericles set forth a statement of
principles of the Athenian
G
democracy. It was a tribute to
those whose citizenship cost
them their lives. Pericles spoke
of various matters including the
values of Athenian democracy,
the virtue of political involvement and foreign policy. He said
that future generations would
stand in awe of Athens and its
accomplishments. He was
correct.
In showing how the death of
those he commemorated was to
a higher purpose, Pericles
praised Athens, it greatness and
its singular freedoms:
“Our government does not
copy our neighbors’, but is an
example to them. It is true that
we are called a democracy, for
the administration is in the
hands of the many and not of the
few. But while there exists equal
justice to all and alike in their
private disputes, the claim of
excellence is also recognized and
when a citizen is in any way
distinguished, he is preferred to
the public service, not as a
matter of privilege, but as the
reward of merit.”
Note the last part of the
phrase: It is when a person
distinguishes himself in private
life that he is then granted public
service, not the other way
around. In other words, allowing
the untested, unaccomplished to
make their bones in public
We must
remember
that the people
that we place in
positions of
power are a
reflection of
ourselves.”
LAW & POLITICS
PETER S.
STAMATIS
Peter S. Stamatis is the principal of the
Law Offices of Peter S. Stamatis, a firm
that handles complex litigation and
appeals. He can be reached at
[email protected].
service is putting the cart before
the horse.
Which brings us to today: To
be sure, we here in Cook County
seem somewhat small before the
backdrop of Pericles’ Athens.
But the lessons of antiquity apply
all the same. There is less than
one month to Election Day 2012.
On the Cook County ballot, not
including judges, there are some
10 contested elections. They
include the president of the
United States, races for the U.S.
Congress, state representatives
and Senate, commissioner for
the Water Reclamation District,
Cook County state’s attorney,
recorder of deeds and commissioner of the Board of Review.
As much as ever before, the
election of moral individuals is
crucial to give us the best chance
to successfully deal with the
myriad challenges we face, challenges which have placed our
nation on the precipice of
calamity.
Consider that just this week,
The Economist magazine made no
bones about American politicians
“dithering, bickering and backtracking” in the face of the fiscal
calamity that would be brought
about by the expiration of the
Bush tax cuts at the end of the
year. “If politicians do nothing,”
The Economist reported, the
“fiscal squeeze would eventually
send the weak economy back into
recession. That prospect is so
horrible that most people assume
the politicians will act … [but] any
plausible solution requires
compromise between Republicans
and Democrats in Washington,
D.C. Neither tribe seems in the
mood for it.”
The challenges extend to the
foreign policy realm. In the
Middle East alone, the world
continues to face many serious
matters. These include a nuclear
Iran, a warring Syria, an unstable
Egypt and al-Qaeda in Libya.
On Nov. 6, we have a choice.
We, the heirs of the Athenian
democracy, can vote our shortterm personal interest. Or we
can vote for the best, more just
and moral candidate. We must
do the latter, if not only to try to
keep us from further calamity,
but to endeavor to tend to the
country’s many wounds, to
repair the brittle foundation
upon which our society sits.
We must remember that the
people that we place in positions
of power are a reflection of
ourselves.
Pericles concluded his funeral
oration by noting that, “where
the rewards of virtue are
greatest, there the noblest
citizens are enlisted in the
service of the state.” So too the
opposite must be true. If we
continue to elect scoundrels with
seeming unrepentant regularity
to public office, what does that
say about us?
In the end, voting character
may represent a shift from our
prior mindsets. But the need for
such a change now is great. It is
moments of great need like these
from which the status quo may
be abandoned and our lot
changed for the better.
Copyright © 2012 Law Bulletin Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Publishing Company.