"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils (capitalism), namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals."

One thing I'd especially like to reflect on about the past week is our research into ancient greek theater and myth, specifically Aristotle. He was a really influential philosopher of Ancient Greece. Personally, I love his teachings, especially the political. He believed that there were basically three good forms of government: monarchy (rule by king), oligarchy (rule by elite few), and constitutional rule, or a democracy (rule by the people). he said that the first two were easily corruptible, and power would go easily to the ruler's heads in those systems, so a democracy is best because it is less easily corruptible. "The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little” (Aristotle). He also believed that within a democracy, the ideal leaders that inevitably come forth would be a well educated middle class. He said that the rich could not lead, because they know the taste of wealth well and would exploit their rule to gain more wealth, and they would not understand any state of being that consisted of an overbearing need of wealth. He said the poor, also, could not rule because they would be resentful of the rich and would aim to take from them as much as possible. He thought that since the middle class knows a little of wealth and a little of want, they would be able to rule fairly and rightly for both ends of the spectrum, especially if educated. 

It is a bit confusing, though, the thought that even in a true democracy, there would still be an individual class of leaders that form, but Aristotle knew that leaders will naturally come forth from a group of people, as evident in all society: that a hierarchy of some form forms even from anarchy and that in a society with projected equality, people will want to be led and the ideal people to lead will be an educated middle class. Unfortunately, as he also recognized, the people that will come forth will not be fair leaders, as the people that strive to be leaders therefore are at their heart bad, "...it is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of the office should himself solicit it... for no one who is not ambitious would ask to hold office” (Aristotle). So we do see that Aristotle's teaching were slightly idealist, hinging on the fact that even though the people that come forward to lead are the wrong people to lead, that the right people to lead will come forward. It is, however, slightly less idealist as him just teaching some form of anarchist communism, so he did at least recognize there must be some separation from the ideal in the real world.