The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1918. DEMOCRACY

New Zealand Tablet, 25 April 1918, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1918. DEMOCRACY

x '' Sf| HE trend of events is clearly towards * Democracy. The thrones of Europe are W tottering and kings becoming but figureK heads, with a growing conviction among the people that as such they are more expensive than useful. Even in Germany Jr* the process of democratisation has already advanced to the steps of the embattled throne of the Hohenzollerns and the grasp of despotism and oligarchy has lost its strength. In England the voices of the people have been raised in anger against a government in the hands of a few which takes little or no account of the rights or the wrongs of the proletariat. France, in name a republic but in reality a

tyranny exercised by a godless oligarchy, is quick with a -spirit- which demands the application of the principle that no government has a right to exist unless it rules by '■ the people and for the people Some Colonies of the British Empire . maintain ' still some last vestiges of the prepotence of tyranny, fast disappearing yet still strong enough to pass laws and to carry out regulations which are against the will of the majority, and. still arrogant enough to embark on such courses in spite of the discontent and manifest hatred which they arouse. Ireland remains at -this latest hour of Europe a victim to the .worst form of despotism and arrogant power which we have been taught to call Prussianism. The people are awakening. The men who fight and pay and suffer are asking why they have no voice in the determination of- affairs ; which concern them chiefly. Broad as the march of the dawn across the world the new movement is advancing. A little while longer ‘and the rule of the people will have become a reality and the day of the-profiteers and the despots and the idle rich who live by the sweat of the poor will have ended. * Democracy is a word that is used lightly by orators who often have no very clear conception of its meaning. Etymologically it signifies the supremacy of the people. In colloquial language it is employed to denote the people as distinct from the aristocrats, or the. idle classes, who neither spin nor. toil, and wax fat on unearned money. The famous Gettysburg phrase, government by the people and for the people and through the people, brings us closer to its true significance, which, in the words of a democrat who knows how to use words accurately is: ‘‘The theory that a political community pretending to sovereignty—that is pretending to a moral right of defending its existence against all other communities— the temporal and civil authority of its laws, not from its actual rulers, nor even from its magistracy, but from itself.” (Hilaire Belloc.) Note that Mr. Belloc explicitly limits the power, of governing authority to temporal and civil affairs. Good philosopher and sound Catholic that he is,, he knows that, the State, whether it be a democracy or a monarchy, has no power to legislate in spiritual affairs, which are above and beyond, its sphere. The definition also connotes that the spiritual order is supreme and that all authority ultimately comes from God—truths .that are forgotten nowadays by our legislators, and through forgetfulness of'which the ruin of present-day governments is accelerated. The main principle of Democracy is the equality of man. And in democratic doctrine it • ought to be clear that (1) every citizen is equal before the law, and that the rights of all ought to be safeguarded and secured by the State, and (2) that every citizen ought to be granted equality of opportunity and no man unduly handicapped on account of his birth or poverty. Thus a law like the prohibition of a Catholic’s becoming Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or even King of England, is an outrage on democratic principles. The laws which provide schools designed to favor those who have no regard for the honor of God and the principles of religion are crimes against the rights of the people in New Zealand. * Corollaries of democratic rule are such institutions as a free press, liberty of speech, universal suffrage, fair Parliamentary representation for minorities, minority rights safeguarded in matters of education, the employment of a referendum where the will of the people is doubtful. In other words, in civil and temporal matters, whether internal or external, the people have a right to be consulted where the government of the State is concerned. The equality of man must be respected and civil and political freedom granted to all. Looking at the question from another point of view we may, say that Democracy stands for. the rights and the dignity of man, regarded as an individual, and opposes/ the conception that man is for the State and _■ not the State for m'an. Democracy means the over-

throw of the tyrannical interference with , higher rights i and the establishment of authority which is conscious that its end and - aim and scope . are , limited by the general good of the people. Therefore a true. Democracy is an ideal that we can all look forward to with hope and .welcome. It is an ideal which once realised would be far more effective in . preventing wars than a million peace conferences and untold, pledges on the ' part ,of diplomatists. It would for* ever put it out of the power of a few arrogant politicians to plunge the population of a country into a war without consulting them to whom the war matters most. It would make impossible the prolongation of a war once the people decided that peace was needed, and it would remove the scandal of men deliberately exploiting their fellows and sacrificing their lives for the sake of their own selfish ends. No profiteering, no tyranny, no laws passed against the will of , the people, no breaking of pledges, no irresponsible squandering of public money by persons who refuse to account for it, no engineering of sectarian bitterness on the part of politicians whose incapacity has written their political death warrant: for all this, and for all the prosperity and peace it would entail Democracy stands. A dream some will say: nay, more than a dream: a reality which is marching apace towards realisation. The interested parties will fight to a finish—the corrupt politicians, the “carrion-crows;” who would retain their ill-gotten plunder no matter what the fate of the poor, the bigots who are protected by place hunters who depend on their votes, all these will be obstacles on the road to full freedom. But it is coining. The slaves of centuries are awake and breaking their fetters. The day of reckoning is at hand. - "•