in the tale the sword of damocles, damocles speaks with his king, dionysius. damocles sees dionysius vast coffers, beautiful women, and raw power, and he remarks how great it must be to be king. dionysius responds, so great, is it? then take my crown, sit on my throne, and enjoy all it entails. damocles cannot believe his luck and happily accepts the kings offer. damocles sits on the throne, gazes upon the gold, enjoys all that the women have to offer, and feels the power of the crown on his head. and then he looks up. and what hangs by a single horses hair above his throne? a razor-sharp sword pointed downwards. the hair threatens to snap at any minute, spelling damocles doom. and damocles begins to sweat. he tries to turn his mind to the gold, but he cannot. he tries to distract himself with the women, but he cannot. he tries to bask in the power of the crown, but he cannot. the impending danger of the sword is always at the forefront of his mind. and he takes the crown off, falls to his knees, and begs dionysius to take it back. the story represents the balance of power between the governed and the governing in an autocracy: absolute power is given to the state in exchange for ultimate accountability. in the case of representative democracy, however, the sword of damocles is not in play. nobody has the authority to single-handedly alter the trajectory of government policy, so nobody gets held accountable. people respond to incentives. what incentive exists to make our politicians serve our interests? evidenced by the lack of heads on spikes, the politicians who have the privilege of holding high offices in our government have no reason to fear reprisal from their constituents.   of-dissent-the-mechanics-of-control led-opposition > backup link  
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