Arguing with Plato

By Charles Houston

“Government of the people, by the people and for the people.” Lincoln is credited with this high-minded oration, but he was actually paraphrasing Plato from the Greek philosopher’s ca. 380 BC Republic. That declaration fits Loudoun County: Our county belongs to its people, not to business interests.

Populism

I’ve incorrectly used the “of-by-for the people” language to mean populism. However, “populism” is technically a political movement that originated around 1892, claiming to champion the common people as opposed to the perceived elites. That has some virtue, but the technical meaning of populism is irrelevant to land use issues in Loudoun County.

Plato

Democracy is sublimely described as free people governing themselves, directly or indirectly through elected representatives. Plato, though, saw dangers in democracy, fretting that democracy could lead to anarchy, or lure into politics power-seeking individuals who might aspire to dictatorial powers. 

The philosopher posited that politics needs expert rulers who should be carefully selected and prepared through extensive training. In other words, elites. This seems to directly contradict the idea “of, by and for the people.”

Rome

Romans formed a representative democracy, often emblazed on its armies’ shields and staffs: “SPQR,” short for “the senate and people of Rome.” (You’ve probably seen those initials in toga-and-sword movies like Ben Hur or Spartacus.)

Democracy of any sort faded during the Middle Ages and did not reappear until the American Revolution. 

How do they vote?

The representative nature of our democracy poses a fundamental question: Do elected representatives vote the way the citizens want them to, or do they vote as they themselves think best?  

The entire concept of representative democracy has too often seen elected officials vote as big-money donors want them to, the people be damned. That is Washington’s modus operandi. It also bears directly on land use in Loudoun County.

Loudoun

We are lucky to have honest and hard-working supervisors. Contrast this board to the Dale Polen Myers board which was investigated by the FBI for its corrupt rezonings, or the 2004 board coup lead by Bruce Tulloch. 

 Vitally important to us are votes that protect western Loudoun, or votes that hurt it. Some supervisors are great advocates, some are not.

Therein lies the rub

We conservationists hope that supervisors will agree with our pleas to save western Loudoun. Some of us will even make some campaign contributions to bolster that hope.

We forget that powerful economic interests also make cogent arguments, and that they give politicians much more money than we do. These opponents get better access. They win more than we do, evinced by western Loudoun’s land lost to subdivisions. What can we do?

The “stakeholder” mistake

When the county forms its various boards and committees, many of the seats are set aside for “stakeholders.”  Some of them seem to see the county as something to plunder, and to heck with citizens. These people are not our friends, yet they often control these committees. Particularly tragic was their control of the committee which produced the new General Plan, which zoning must follow.

Consider the Zoning Ordinance Committee. There are members from the Chamber of Commerce, the office and industrial developers, realtors, homebuilders, the economic development advisory commission, plus representatives of land use planning and of civil engineering whose clients are developers. That’s seven seats, while our conservation side gets two designated seats. There are other seats whose members sometimes vote our way, but it’s clear that being given a majority stake in the future of western Loudoun, our opponents are in control.  

Houston’s Solution

We must always emphasize that Loudoun belongs to its citizens, not to business interests. That is consistent with Lincoln’s words. They please me much more than does Plato’s proposal for carefully trained rulers who are supposed to be wiser than the citizenry. 

All the volunteer committee and board members must be regular citizens, not representatives of business groups that see western Loudoun as fertile soil to be plowed. However, recognize that these people do have expertise on the subject matters. Let them sit on ad hoc panels that advise the formal boards and committees.

Plato might fidget at that solution.   

While we’re at it, for the sake of efficiency, limit committee sizes to nine members, one for each supervisor.

Charles Houston developed more than six million square feet of office buildings throughout the south for an Atlanta-based firm. He lives in Paeonian Springs.