Counter-Currents
Tag: representative government
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4,702 wordsPart 4 of 4 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
And even if all financial incentives were totally eradicated from politics, this would not — and could not — exclude non-monetary forms of lobbying and influence, where private entities influence politicians in ways that do not involve any form of financial compensation. In the words of Rep. Maggie Wood Hassan, “When you are in the legislature, it can be hard to distinguish the loud from the many.” The distant nature of political representation ensures that even the most well-meaning politician’s perspective can be biased and distorted by dozens of external influences. (more…)
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Walter Lippmann, whose anti-democratic skepticism changed the course of American politics in the twentieth century.
Walter Lippmann, whose anti-democratic skepticism changed the course of American politics in the twentieth century.
3,142 words
Part 4 of 9 (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 3 here, Chapter 4 Part 2 here)
Politically, democracy means the sovereignty, not of the average man — who is a rather narrow, short-sighted, muddle-headed creature — but of a matured public opinion, a very different thing . . . In the forming of this opinion the sage has a million times the weight of the field hand. With modern facilities for mind influencing mind, democracy, at its best, substitutes the direction of the recognized moral and intellectual élite for the rule of the strong, the rich, or the privileged. — Edward Alsworth Ross, Changing America (1912) (more…)
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The Founding Fathers were not what they are often seen as today.
The Founding Fathers were not what they are often seen as today.
6,140 words
Part 3 of 9 (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 2 here, Chapter 4 Part 1 here)
Of the things for which I summoned the people to assemble,
was there one I compassed not? . . .
This is how the people will best follow their leaders:
If they are neither unleashed nor restrained too much. — Solon, circa sixth century BC (more…) -
3,552 wordsPart 2 of 9 (Chapter 1 here)
In all countries the rights of the majority take care of themselves, but it is only in countries like England, enjoying constitutional liberty, and safe from the tyranny of a single despot, or of an unbridled democracy, that the rights of minorities are regarded. — Sir John A. MacDonald (more…)
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