Moderating the Democracy: Attic Rhetoric and Countering the Demagogue

• In Event: Duty and Care in Human Development

Abstract

Can American democracy escape rule by demagogue? As Cicero explained and the Founders feared, demagogues have powerful advantages in democracies. Their passionate appeals and rousing rhetoric have the potential to move the masses and are difficult to resist with cool reason in mass politics. For this reason, Cicero embraced and recommended mastery of the three primary techniques of demagogic rhetoric: (1) complex and varied use of voice, language, and gesture, (2) arousal of passion rather than rational argument, and (3) sophisticated calibration of speeches to particular audiences so that each set of listeners would hear what it was most likely to find persuasive.

In contrast to his praise for the craft and effectiveness of the demagogue, Cicero critiqued the cooler, more rational Attic style. The Attic orator, who Cicero thought doomed to failure when opposed by a master of the demagogue’s art, (1) uses the simplest possible accurate terms and style, (2) presents a rational argument in its most logical sequence, and (3) presents the same issue in the same manner regardless of the audience’s particular predispositions. In other words, where the demagogue uses any rhetorical means necessary to win the agreement of any listener, the Attic orator makes an honest appeal to the reason of the audience, trusting that the listener will be ruled by reason rather than passion and respecting the listener’s capacity to see through the demagogue’s ruses.

My paper addresses the question posed at the outset, whether the United States can escape rule by demagogue, by examining the power of Attic oratory within the republic. To the extent that rational Attic rhetoric may prevail or strongly influence the American democracy, then demagogues cannot retain complete control. To be more specific, I employ a literary example, Harper Lee's Atticus Finch, to demonstrate the moderate but critical victories that Attic rhetoric can realistically be expected to achieve on behalf of reason and justice.

Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee presents an Attic orator—Atticus Finch—speaking in the same tone and employing the same unembellished but precise phrases and logical arguments regardless of the context and audience. Scholarly literature on Atticus Finch has not yet connected his name to the school of rhetoric that he employs, but Lee underscores the Attic qualities of Atticus’s speech throughout the novel. Indeed, Atticus’s Attic qualities become most apparent when one compares how his accurate, rational approach pervades his speech regardless of topic, audience, and occasion. Whether with his children, before a mob, or in court, Atticus refrains from embellishment, distraction, and drama. Through Atticus, Lee demonstrates that Attic rhetoric is more than useful: it is a necessary tool with which the citizen navigates discord while remaining both an honest advocate for justice and respectful of the rational capacity of the fellow citizen with whom one disagrees.

Of course, Atticus’s honest logic loses the trial at the heart of To Kill a Mockingbird: the jury convicts innocent Tom Robinson. Atticus pins his hopes on the rationality of the appeals process, but should he have employed the full spectrum of rhetorical skills that Cicero praised to save his client? This difficult question is at the heart of the tension every political actor faces when determining how to interact with the American people. No less, this question strikes at the heart of democratic deliberation and the potential for reason to prevail over passion. It also touches on the potential for a citizen to maintain integrity and honesty while advocating for justice. My paper explores these tensions by weighing the positive influence of Atticus—preventing a lynching and converting some citizens to his position—against the likely results had he chosen to employ the tools of the demagogue.

Author

• Michelle M. Kundmueller, Old Dominion University