The Myth of Democracy

To label democracy a "myth" is not to dismiss it as a lie, but to highlight its ontological significance, to identify it as a guiding narrative within which history is organized. As a guiding narrative, democracy poses Lindbom's "constitutional" question: "Who will rule, God or man?" In Lindbom's account, Western democracy is part of a Luciferian rebellion that seeks to displace God in the name of human equality, or as Claes Ryn writes in the introduction, "to establish the Kingdom of Man." Lindbom's reading of history includes familiar villains of neoconservatism--Marx, Heidegger, and Rousseau--as well as less familiar ones, such as William of Occam. Add it to the growing list of defenses of hierarchy...