Plato was Right on One Thing

I read a very good blog post by Mr. Janusz Korwin-Mikke today, which translates into English something like this:

"Who rules in Poland?
If we listen to Mr. Janusz Palikot [a prominent Polish leftist politician] we would be under the impression that the Roman Catholic Church rules Poland. If we listen to Fr. Tadeusz [a prominent Polish priest and media owner] we would be under the impression that we are ruled by Jews. Or perhaps: Freemasons. The Freemasons, on the other hand, suggest that the European continent is being ruled by "The Great East" - a rival, leftist organization, which seeks to impersonate the Masonry. The Catholic Church states we are still ruled by post-Communists - and the socialists think our rulers are the nasty capitalists.
The capitalists say that the labour unions have all the influence. But the unionists think that liberals have taken over.
Oh - and I forgot - there are also some people called politicians who claim that the real rulers are the bureaucrats[...]"

Mr. Korwin-Mikke is a great man, a true leader of the classical liberal and Monarchist causes in Poland (which is probably why his political party has been unconstitutionally banned from this year's parliamentary elections). What he has correctly observed in the above segment is the Ship-of-State phenomenon first described by Plato is Book VI of his famous Republic. In this case, I would strongly suggest that people like Mr. Korwin-Mikke (or Ron Paul, for that matter) are those star-gazing philosopher kings. The ship ruled by Democracy can never take any course, but a disastrous one. It will be full of quarrels, fights, and agitation. Violence will break out periodically. The history of the democratic state is the history of oppression, taxation, and civil war.

So here is the whole original Plato from Book VI, read and learn:
"Imagine then a fleet or a ship in which there is a captain who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, but he is a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, and his knowledge of navigation is not much better. The sailors are quarrelling with one another about the steering --every one is of opinion that he has a right to steer, though he has never learned the art of navigation and cannot tell who taught him or when he learned, and will further assert that it cannot be taught, and they are ready to cut in pieces any one who says the contrary. They throng about the captain, begging and praying him to commit the helm to them; and if at any time they do not prevail, but others are preferred to them, they kill the others or throw them overboard, and having first chained up the noble captain's senses with drink or some narcotic drug, they mutiny and take possession of the ship and make free with the stores; thus, eating and drinking, they proceed on their voyage in such a manner as might be expected of them. Him who is their partisan and cleverly aids them in their plot for getting the ship out of the captain's hands into their own whether by force or persuasion, they compliment with the name of sailor, pilot, able seaman, and abuse the other sort of man, whom they call a good-for-nothing; but that the true pilot must pay attention to the year and seasons and sky and stars and winds, and whatever else belongs to his art, if he intends to be really qualified for the command of a ship, and that he must and will be the steerer, whether other people like or not-the possibility of this union of authority with the steerer's art has never seriously entered into their thoughts or been made part of their calling. Now in vessels which are in a state of mutiny and by sailors who are mutineers, how will the true pilot be regarded? Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing?"

Are we libertarians not often called star-gazers and dreamers with no realistic world-view whatsoever? We are the philosopher kings.