DANGER TO DEMOCRACY

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 21982, 10 March 1943, Page 2

DANGER TO DEMOCRACY

In this election year the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, has drawn attention to a modern political evil which should be exposed as one of the gravest perils to New Zealand. At the last election, he said, every man was asking which party would give him personally the biggest dividend of protection and prosperity, with little regard for the real welfare of the country. This is a fact that strikes at the very root of democracy. Every elector has the right to vote for the platform that offers him personally the best prospect of gain. He may know that the course advocated is against the real interests of the country, yet he has the free choice, with only his conscience to guide him. Democracy will be woefully imperfect until the average man has sufficient strength of mind and regard for his friends and his country to give his support to policies which he knows are wise. How is that strength of character to be instilled into the people? Human nature is weak, but democracy is at stake, and democracy is worth preserving. Unfortunately, the weakness of the electorate is communicated to the political parties and to Parliament itself. If a political party wishes to remain or become a government and knows that only more attractive promises than are made by the other parties will bring success at the polls, the temptation is strong to promise more and more. That is what has been going on in New Zealand for years, with results that are obvious to every man. And what is the remedy? The party that adopts a platform of “ austerity,” or whatever may be demanded by the conditions of the day, faces the risk of extinction while the public appetite remains voracious. The only remedy is the training and practice of good citizenship. When electors can see beyond their noses, when the good of the community is placed above shortsighted selfishness, democracy will come back into its own—and not until then. In its national debt, climbing toward £400,000,000, New Zealand has a startling reminder of the result of Parliament’s compliance with the greed of the electorate. And that is only \he financial aspect of the evil.