Democratic Musings of C.S. Lewis

I've been reading a compilation of quotes by C.S. Lewis lately and have been enjoying it.  I was especially intrigued by the section on Democracy, and his insights focused through a God-honouring lens are worthy of consideration today.  This is one of my favourites, quoted from an essay written in 1943 titled "Equality":

"I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man.  I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason.  A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government.  The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true...I find that they're not true without looking further than myself.  I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation...The real reason for democracy is...Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.  Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves.  I do not contradict him.  But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters." (Lewis, C. S., et al. The Quotable Lewis. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990. #326; pages 152-153)

Another notable quote on the subject was gleaned from The Screwtape Letters penned in 1959:

Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose...The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say "I'm as good as you."

The first and most obvious advantage is that you thus induce him to enthrone at the centre of his life a good, solid resounding lie.  I don't mean merely that his statement is false in fact, that he is not more equal to everyone he meets in kindness, honesty, and good sense than in height or waist-measurement.  I mean that he does not believe it himself.  No man who says, "I'm as good as you" believes it.  He would not say it if he did.  The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain.  The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior.  What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept...

Now this useful phenomenon is in itself by no means new.  Under the name of Envy it has been known to the humans for thousands of years.  But hitherto they always regarded it as the most odious, and also the most comical, of vices.  Those who were aware of feeling it felt it with shame; those who were not gave it no quarter in others.  The delightful novelty of the present situation is that you can sanction it - make it respectable and even laudable - by the incantatory use of the word democratic." (Lewis, C. S., et al. The Quotable Lewis. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990. #332; pages 154-155)

I encourage you to find books of believing writers which make you think, for often they arrive at sublime conclusions we would not discover by ourselves.  It is good to read books which dive deeper into subjects than your thoughts natural range which stretch and challenge you to run at breakneck speed to keep up - whilst the author walks at a casual, conversational pace.  The best book of all is the Holy Bible which goes to a supernatural depth no great thinker can adequately plumb, but the truth and applications are revealed by the Holy Spirit to the humble heart and willing mind at all levels of learning.  It is a satisfying feeling to use our brains to consider and weigh concepts as God intended, realising there is much more to thinking than we previously imagined.