The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1943. THE INDIVIDUAL DUTY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 310, 25 September 1943, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1943. THE INDIVIDUAL DUTY

Much has been heard, during the last few weeks, of the rights of the people, but it has been well said that every such right involves a duty, and the citizens, as electors, must discharge that duty today.. In order that the political opinion of the community may be ascertained, as fully as our system of election will permit, it is incumbent .on every- ! one to record his or her vote. Only in that way will the Parliament. of the land reflect, as it always should, the opinions of the people. The dust and din of the political battle- may not provide the best conditions for the formulation of a carefully considered opinion., but each one. stands alone in the polling booth and each decision is an | individual one. Put in the broadest way, the issues at stake concern the welfare of the Dominion, not merely of the person voting. “The quality which enables a people to govern themselves is not the instinct of men to insist on their own interests, but the instinct to put the public interest before their own.” And unless that is done it is' difficult to see how any country can hope to avoid “a slow but progressive revolution of antagonism.” . .... f If there is—and it cannot well be denied—a general feeling of dissatisfaction and suspicion, a belief that, as a correspondent to these ' columns said yesterday, “it is almost impossible to find out the truth about anything or anybody,” then it is for the electors to return to Parliament men whom they feel they can' trust. And that strips the qualifications down to'one-r-character—for confidence can always be placed in men of character. . It provides a much more stable foundation than does ability. . . What, then, it might be asked, is the purpose behind the election of any Parliament? The reply, surely, is the endowment of freedom with some meaning. The relationships of man to man cannot be conditioned purely by economic standards. And to ensure, that: our democratic system of government has to be continually adjusted, but without ceasing to be democratic. That, precludes the right of any individual, group or organization to exercise a predominating influence from outside the representative chamber; involves a return to the system by which decisions are made after, and in the place where, issues are debated. . . . “Democracy is power cut up into little pieces, and today the citizens, without any other qualification than their citizenship, will be called upon to exercise their piece of power. It is, in the last analysis, the foundation of the self-governing system, and the dntv must be faced seriously. There was weight in the statement made overseas that perhaps the great task now to be faced, is “to make democracy safe for the world.” It calls for the use of individual, power, not for personal but for national ends. It means to demonstrate that man is not simply a doer of jobs and an earner of wages. The Stale must be identified with the claims of justice and human integrity, and that demands good citizenship. “Given a chance, men do. greater things under the inspiration of freedom than under compulsion.” These, it will be generally admitted, are among the basic things that the individual voter should consider, and when that has been done a choice should be made, the power of each vote exercised, in order that this country may have, directing its communal affairs and activities, men who will find their satisfaction and reward in the service of their fellow citizens who, together, form the State.