NOVEMBER, 1923
THE UNITED AMERICAN
13
Ideals in America’s Political Democracy
T IS EASY in America to lay one’s
finger on almost every one of the
I great
defects of civilization—even those
defects which are specially character
istic of the civilization of the Old
World. The United States cannot claim
to be exempt from manifestations of
economic slavery, of grinding the faces
of the poor, of exploitation of the weak,
of unfair distribution of wealth, of un
just monopoly, of unequal laws, of in
dustrial and commercial chicanery, of
disgraceful ignorance, of economic fal
lacies, of public corruption, of interested
legislation, of want of public spirit, of
vulgar boasting and chauvinism, of
snobbery, of class prejudice, of respect
of persons, and of a preference of the
material over the spiritual. In a word,
America has not attained, or nearly at
tained, perfection.
To attempt to say what the ideals of
America are today, then, is especially
presumptuous. In doing so, one can
hardly avoid the charge of being more
dogmatic than the facts warrant; there
are many currents and multitudinous
dissents. It is therefore too venturesome
for anyone safely to describe the Ameri
can ideals beyond what seem to be the
ideals of the average thoughtful, public-
spirited American. How many such per
sons there are one can hardly venture to
guess: perhaps a million, perhaps two,
out of a hundred; and even they are by
no means alike. But although this is
so, the common denominator of their
ideals is this common denominator of
the ideals of America, and whether they
be regarded as prime movers or as re
sultants of forces (for they are both),
they are equally signicant as an index
of the movements of our great inarticu
late national spirit.
Moreover, the maintenance of the
routineer cast of mind is served by two
of the most powerful engines of general
influence: the larger daily newspapers
and the public school. The magnitude of
the fixed capital in a large modern news
paper plant and the consequent import
ance of its advertising and business con
nections make it unlikely that any great
daily will be at all persistently a force
for the reshaping of political ideals.
Orthodoxy on the whole is their inevit
able line.
Accordingly, such movements as the
axiomatic. But if you were to ask why
they were devoted to this ideal, the
voices of response would grow more un
certain and various.
Slowly, however, out of the confusion
might come some such reply as this:
Democracy is an assurance neither of
wisdom nor of virtue in our day; but it
is the best hope we have of their gradual
but slow emergence. This is mainly for
three reasons.
First, consider the broader and the
popular base on which our government
rests. The more stable it is, the more
stable is progress under it. All will
have some reason to believe that the will
they obey is their own will, and that the
commands of law are self-imposed. All
feel themselves more or less committed
to the playing of the game according to
the rules. Violent breaks with the past
are less to be feared. It follows then
that progress, though it may be slower
in any given time than under the en
lightened few, is likely to be more
secure.
Second, democracy seems to be the
only promising device for keeping gov
ernment aimed straight. Since we have
definitely given up the Platonic notion of
a classification of human beings in re
spect of essential worth, and come to the
conclusion that the chance for a good
life for everyone must weigh equally in
the scales of state, then a wide distribu
tion of power is the best safeguard
against the distortion of the purpose of
equal service. Let a government be
stupid or inept, and we may forgive; but
if it persistently devote its powers to the
service of some at the expense of others,
that is the unpardonable sin. From that
sin, democracy offers the best promise
yet made of saving us. No critic or
opponent of democracy has offered any
practical alternative whatever.
Third, democracy is the most powerful
engine of general education. Learning
by doing, improvement by trial and
error or success, training for responsi
bility by the sharing of responsibility—
these are phases that nowadays carry
pretty general conviction. And if it is
true that diverse as we are, we are
nevertheless a common humanity; if, in
the long run it is impossible in any
civilization for any lesser part to go
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Short Ballot, the central control of local
administration, and the closer union of
legislative and executive branches have
to reckon with the rooted orthodoxy of
common school teaching as a very prac
tical matter.
Consider, then, the thoughtful mi
nority. If a hundred average Ameri
cans were asked what was the chief of
American political ideals, ninety-nine
would probably answer: Democracy, the
Sovereignty of the People. As yet there
has been no significant dissent from the
doctrine of the declaration that govern-
jments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed. So much is
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