THE NEWER DEMOCRACY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 52, 30 August 1933, Page 8

THE NEWER DEMOCRACY

Lord SnelFs warning against exchanging democracy for dictatorship or for government by a group of experts is the more pointed because of recent events. Germany has accepted, perhaps only for the time being, a dictatorship; and the great democracy of America has voluntarily placed semi-dictatorial powers in the hands of a President who is guided by a group of experts. But the problem is not a new one. It has been discussed many times, and not finally solved. Almost exactly three years ago Mr. Stanley Baldwin examined it when delivering to the Brotherhood Movement the Dr. John Clifford Lecture. His subject was "Democracy Old and New," and though he spoke three years ago his words have a close application to the facts of today. The essential difficulty of democracy today, he said, arose from its extension. In the. ideal States of Plato and Aristotle only certain classes possessed civic privileges, and in the Reformation churches where democratic government was applied membership was restricted to the saints. But we had enfranchised the whole population and were attempting the immense double enterprise of making each citizen count as one and an end in himself and asking him to share effectively and intelligently in the responsibilities of government. These ideals had not been fully realised. Democracy was still an aspiration and not a fact. The democratic framework of government which had been achieved was not the same as a democratic society. One immediate danger was that the machinery of government might be seized and exploited in undemocratic ways for undemocratic ends. In the name of the sovereign people deeds may be done as cruel as those done by any Greek tyrant or medieval despot. It is terribly easy for those in power to confuse justice with the interest of the strong, but oppression of the few by the many is just as ugly as Its opposite. Popular government, Mr. Baldwin admitted, had lost ground in many countries and they were being told that there was no escape from the circular movement of tyranny, oligarchy, democracy, and back to tyranny again. Democracy, it was argued, made too great a demand upon the intelligence, the energy, and the honesty of average mortals. But this saving fact was noted: impatience with things as they are was widespread, but it was only in democratic countries that the voice of criticism was high and lifted up. In non-democratic countries it was suppressed and silenced. Impatience where it was vocal sprang from two causes: from those on the right who demanded first and ' foremost efficiency, putting it above liberty, and from those on the left who complained that we had not had too much but too little democracy. There was discontent in England, but the English gift for "animated moderation" would enable it to be grappled with. I venture to prophesy that wo shall get together and modify presently our practices to suit tho new conditions. Mr. Baldwin examined some of the proposals for modification, including the suggestion made by Mr. Churchill for an economic sub-Par-liament which would debate questions of finance and trade with fearless detachment from public opinion. But, he asked, could Mr. Churchill say that one Parliament would be more likely than the other to reach unanimity and which' would be dominant? One of the causes of discontent, Mr. Baldwin held, was a failure of faith and ideals. Democracy had been tried up to a point, and laws had been framed, but the hopes held out had not always been realised when the laws were passed. From some of the evils now Jhveaten-

ing salvation Avould be found in the emergence of voluntary associations and their employment by the State. There would be a reaction against bureaucracy, against turning to the State for everything, and the State itself would make larger demands upon voluntary associations. There [are signs here of this tendency, of a new recognition of individual responsibility, a rebirth of ideals. Though the habit of leaning upon the State is yet strong, the more thoughtful people are discovering a new way of improving the lot of themselves and others by their own associated efforts.