CHAPTER XXII

THE ETHICS OF DEMOCRACY

"There is a lack of interest in our Nation's affairs. The individual has forgotten his obligations. When loyalty becomes passive our institutions are in jeopardy. It is the duty of every community to purge itself from within by universal education, by inspiring in the individual a deeper sense of obligation to his fellow-men and to the Government and, finally, by elimination of the dangerous revolutionary element."

-John J. Pershing.

The ethics of democracy emphasizes the worth of the individual; the universality of rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the common obligations of citizenship; the special obligations of leadership; the mutual reresponsibility of citizen and citizen in all acts of harmfulness; the mutual opportunity for helpfulness; and the duty of efficiency, through intelligence, healthfulness, training, and fidelity.

Democracy, literally defined, means government by the people. In reality it means self-government. This is only a large term for self-control and selfdirection. To have a great democracy in any true sense there must be the deliberate action of a free people regulating and directing their own affairs in accordance with sanity and safety.

Pure democracies have been very rare in history. Athens for a while, in the days of Pericles, was almost a pure democracy. So were many of

the New England towns in early days. Some of the Swiss cantons have perhaps maintained themselves in such character almost or quite down to the present.

But no large state, with millions of people, ever has been a pure democracy. No such state ever can be a pure democracy. The limits of time, space, and business make it impossible. Think of all the citizens of New York going to Albany to participate in making all of the laws! For the state of New York to be a pure democracy this would be necessary. And to have a pure democracy it would be necessary for all the citizens to participate in administering the laws and in adjusting all disputes that arise under the laws. For New York, Texas, California, Illinois, Virginia, or any other one of our forty-eight great states to attempt such a program would be obviously absurd. A fortiori, how much more absurd would it be for the people of the United States as a whole to attempt such a method of procedure!

The United States is not a pure democracy. It does not need to be such to be a strong, efficient, liberty-loving, and happy nation. What we have, what we are, is a constitutional and representative democracy-a republic. Nevertheless, ultimate sovereignty resides in the people-the whole people. Moreover, each individual citizen enjoys many opportunities to participate actively in government and in self-government. Therefore, the responsibilities and the privileges of each of our citizens are so great

as to make it supremely worth his while to study the ethics-the principles of democracy.

Vital democracy involves three essential principles:

1. Active participation in government to the full measure of one's privileges and qualifications. This is both a right and a duty.

2. Intelligent preparation for efficiency in both private and public life. This is a duty to society. It is also a necessary condition for self-preservation and self-interest.

In this connection it may be appropriate to recall John Milton's famous definition of education: "I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war."

3. A conscientious regard for the interests of one's fellow-citizens and a willingness to exert oneself for their protection and welfare. This is a plain duty. It is also a high privilege.

These principles are assumed to be self-evident. The first is perhaps the one most generally thought of when democracy is under consideration. It is of the very essence of democracy. Without a considerable participation in government on the part of the average citizen there can be no democracy.

Intelligent preparation for efficiency demands education. Most democracies have recognized their duty to educate their citizens. As Jefferson, Lincoln, and other seers have declared, the people may be

trusted; but they must be educated. Without intelligence, education, and moral stamina no democracy is efficient or safe. We need a world that is safe for democracy, but we must also have a democracy that is safe for the world. Among stupid, ignorant masses a benevolent despotism would be much better than any attempt at democracy. It is because we, the people of the United States, see this great fact so clearly that we regard public education as such a paramount duty.

In the dark ages the people were not responsible for government. Self-government was forbidden them. In their ignorance and superstition they often imagined that the law was something occult and mysterious. What they thought about it made very little difference one way or the other, in the law; in themselves it made a great deal of difference. The contrast between them and us is very clearly indicated in the following paragraph by Judge John B. Winslow:

The liege-subjects of a feudal sovereign had a valid excuse for not familiarizing themselves with the fundamental law of the state; they did not make the law and could not change it, however wrong it might be. The citizens of a democracy, however, have no such excuse; they are the lawmakers, and it is their duty no less than their privilege to change the law if it be wrong.

And further he declares: "If the people are to rule the people must be fit to rule. To be fit to rule they must not only be educated, but the

great mass of them must be of good, moral character."1

A conscientious regard for the interests of one's fellow-citizens and a willingness to exert oneself for their protection and welfare bring us face to face with a dangerous heresy. It is the old error of childhood, misunderstood and misapplied too often in manhood; namely, that to be a good citizen one must not report or prosecute a lawbreaker. This is a most palpable and absurd heresy; yet thousands of people, otherwise wise enough, fall into it headlong.

The child should be taught not to tattle-not to be a suspicious, sneaking spy-not to be a gossipy tell-tale. But he should also be taught the difference between law and law-breaking. He should be made to see that when one shields a law-breaker he thereby makes himself a law-breaker. Thus he takes the side of thieves and robbers against all good people.

Democracy is self-government, so far as such a thing is possible in a large commonwealth. And self-government must be vital and active in every large state, for no amount of vigilance on the part of the officers of the law can safeguard thoroughly against wrong-doing. Each citizen, therefore, must be a law unto himself. This is real self-government -living according to law even in the absence of all officers of the law. Democratic self-government makes each individual responsible for himself—for good behavior and honest service.

1. Modern American Law, Vol. I, pages 2, 6.