The following is a paper I wrote for a social philosophy class in April 2016, during my junior year of college. The prompt for the paper was: what is true democracy?

[In the middle of an ocean exists a ship, and on the ship exists the Democratic State of the Ship. As far as they can remember, the people of the Ship have always been living there, constantly threatened by the harshest of the waves. Due to the waves, the ship rocks violently, and injuries and deaths occur on a daily basis. Consequently, everyone’s energy is focused on protecting the ship from the dangerous waves. The captains of the Ship—Don, Sage, and Shin—are in charge of steering the ship in a way that minimizes the adverse effects of the waves in addition to overseeing the Ship.


SCENE 1

[In the Captains’ Room, Sage and Shin wake up to Don shaking their bodies.]

DON: Guys, wake up! We are facing a crisis!
SAGE: [Rubbing his eyes] What’s wrong? Are the waves getting really bad?
DON: No, it’s actually the opposite; the harsh waves have ceased! It’s the first time in my life seeing the ocean so peaceful. However, at the same time, people of the Ship are planning a revolt against us. Now that they don’t need to depend on our steering skills anymore, they are starting to question why we are the rulers. SHIN: Oh no! What should we do?
DON: The people are chanting: “We want less dictatorship! We want more democracy! We want true democracy!” They claim that our rule is dictatorship. We have to give them what they demand – true democracy! That’s the only solution to this crisis!
SHIN: But what the hell does that mean? “Democracy”? I thought our state was already one?
SAGE: Democracy is part of our state’s name, but that doesn’t mean much. DON: I have an idea. Democracy is more than just a name; it is a set of specific institutional structures. Let’s implement a system of equal rights and equal access to legislative processes. We should also propose the idea of elections where they can vote for the next set of captains. SHIN and SAGE: Okay, let’s try that.

SCENE 2

[One week passes, and various democratic structures are implemented. However, people remain dissatisfied. They start to get angrier, threatening to kill the captains.]

DON: Oh gosh, these people are ready to kill us! We gave them democracy, but they’re still mad!
SAGE: Wait a minute; I think I know why they are. What we gave them is not true democracy. Democracy is more than mere institutional structures; it is the way people converse with one another and shape the society through their will. Politics itself should be based on their own genuine decision-makings. We must give them true democracy.
SHIN: But how could we possibly do that?
SAGE: Well, first, we must step down from our captainship. They gotta rule by their own will. We can make gathering spaces – salons, and such – for people to come together to share a democratic discourse and collectively decide on what our society should look like. In fact, we should stop occupying this Captains’ Room and having these meetings. This room should be turned into another salon.
DON: Brilliant! Let’s do that.

SCENE 3

[One week passes, but people remain dissatisfied; although the captains have stepped down and a plenty of salon spaces are created, given the big size and diversity of the population, people are unable to reach much consensus. In fact, people start to fight over what true “democracy” means. At this point, people become angry with one other. Don senses the urgency of the situation and calls Sage and Shin to a basement room.]

DON: Okay, I know we’ve stepped down from our rule, but this is a disaster and we oughta do something. People are starting to kill one another!
SAGE: What could we do? They demanded democracy, so we gave it to them. We gave them the structural democracy, and we gave them the way to have substantial democracy. But I see no democracy, only frustrations. So what do they mean when they say they want more democracy or true democracy?
DON: Oh, we’re all screwed! We’ve finally escaped the harsh waves, but now we’re faced with another crisis!
SHIN: Wait! I think I have an idea.
SAGE: You do?
SHIN: Yea, let’s try one more thing: let’s use our muscles this time.
SAGE: Do you mean we should fight them? That’s not gonna work – look at their numbers!
SHIN: No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is: let’s use our muscles to rock the ship.
DON and SAGE: Rock the ship?!
SHIN: Yes, rock the ship.

[Don and Sage looks at each other confusedly.]

SAGE: Are you nuts? We’ve waited all our lives for this peaceful time to come. We finally don’t have to worry about the waves! Now you are telling us to rock the ship?
DON: I think you’re going crazy! Rocking the boat puts everyone, including us, in danger! We’re already dealing with a crisis right now, we can’t handle another one!
SHIN: We have to rock the ship.

[They hear the cries from upstairs, where people are fighting to death.]

SAGE: Alright, I think you’re crazy, but we might else well try!

[Don, Sage, and Shin starts running back and forth in the basement and pushing the walls on each side. After a few tries, the ship starts to rock, although very slightly. However, people starts to sense the rocking and panic.]

People of the Ship: Oh no! The boat is rocking again! We are all gonna die!

[The people stop fighting and start crying in misery. Soon, some urge others to go to one of the salons to have a talk. For the first time in a while, they start to seriously listen to each other. After long discussions, they reach the consensus that they will ask the ex-captains for help. The ex-captains could use their steering skills again to minimize the turbulence.]

People of the Ship: (to Don, Shin, and Sage) Please help us! Please dictate over us!

SCENE 4

DON: So, after all, we found the solution to the crisis in our Ship: another crisis. SAGE: And now we dictate over the Ship.
SHIN: But our dictatorship was demanded democratically. So, I guess for us, this is what true democracy looks like.

[From now on, the three men remain captains. They secretly rotate in a way that, at all times, one of them is ruling over the Ship while two of them are rocking the ship. Perhaps, finally, the days of peace have arrived at the Ship.]🧃