In The Republic Plato has a scheme for making people satisfied with their lot in life. He says they will be told they are born with certain elements from the earth. People who have gold in them are the rulers, people with silver are the guardians, and people with bronze are the workers or farmers. There is nothing to be done about their fate. They must accept their metallic content and be satisfied with it. Plato, of course, did not believe this. He makes it clear that this is a myth, a noble lie, which will promote social stability.
In my political theory classes at San Jose State, students were always bothered by Plato’s rationale. How could Plato advance such a pernicious doctrine, knowing it wasn’t true? I would challenge the students to come up with some of our own “noble lies,” and after thinking about it, they usually could.
You want a few. Any citizen can be elected to congress. The government can’t listen in on your phone conversations without a warrant. We have the best medical care of any nation on earth.
Here is the biggest one. If you study and work hard, you will get ahead. In the last few weeks a number of articles have been published pointing out that social mobility in the U.S. lags behind many other European nations, which aren’t doing all that well either. (For a great example, go to <http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2014/03/03/140303ta_talk_surowiecki>.)
If you are born poor in the U.S., you will most likely remain poor. You won’t go to good schools, won’t go to college, won’t get a good job. On the other hand, if you are born rich, you will probably die rich. Nonetheless, the myth provides the same function as it did for Plato. If you buy into it, the fact that you are poor is your fault. It isn’t a problem for government or for the 1%. It is the inevitability of your lot in life.
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