FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   >>  
political party, and is changed with the Cabinet. On the whole, the best thing for democracy is that the paid workers in politics should be as few as possible, and the number of salaried state officials strictly limited. The fewer the paid political workers, the fewer people will be concerned to maintain the efficiency of the political machine, and the more freely will the electorate act in the choice of its representatives. The fewer the salaried officials of State, the less inspection and restriction, and the less encouragement to habits of submission in the people. Democracy must depend on a healthy, robust sense of personal responsibility in its citizens, and every increase in the inspectorate tends to diminish this personal responsibility, and to breed a "servile state" that will fall a willing prey to tyranny and bureaucracy. Nevertheless, whilst in self-defence democracy will avoid increasing its officials, it will distinguish between officials and employees. It is bound to add to the number of its employees every year, as its municipal and imperial responsibilities grow steadily larger, and these employees, rightly regarded as public servants, cannot threaten to become our masters. WORKING-CLASS ASCENDANCY Still one more danger to democracy may be mentioned, and that is the notion that from the working class must necessarily come our best rulers. "Rulers are not wise by reason of their number or their poverty, or their reception of a weekly wage instead of a monthly salary or yearly income. It is worse and more unpleasant and more dangerous to be ruled by many fools than by one fool, or a few fools. The tyranny of an ignorant and cowardly mob is a worse tyranny than the tyranny of an ignorant and cowardly clique or individual. "Workers are not respectable or to be considered because they work more with their hands or feet than with their brains, but because the work they do is good. If it is not good work they do, they are as unprofitable as any other wasters. A plumber is not a useful or admirable creature because he plumbs (if he plumbs ignorantly or dishonestly, he is often either a manslayer or a murderer), but because he plumbs well, and saves the community from danger and damp, disease, and fire and water. Makers of useless machine-made ornaments are, however 'horny-handed,' really 'anti-social persons,' baneful to the community as far as their bad work goes; more baneful, possibly, than the con
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   >>  



Top keywords:

tyranny

 

officials

 
employees
 

plumbs

 

democracy

 

number

 

political

 

workers

 

community

 
cowardly

responsibility

 

personal

 
ignorant
 

baneful

 

people

 
salaried
 

machine

 

danger

 

clique

 

individual


Workers

 
considered
 

respectable

 

unpleasant

 

reception

 
weekly
 

poverty

 
possibly
 

reason

 
monthly

dangerous
 

income

 

salary

 
yearly
 

persons

 

social

 
disease
 

murderer

 

Makers

 
useless

handed

 

ornaments

 
manslayer
 

wasters

 

unprofitable

 

brains

 
plumber
 
ignorantly
 

dishonestly

 
creature