Governor. It may be that we shall ultimately merge the executive and legislative branches in our State governments, as we have done so successfully in many of our municipal governments, electing a Commission to have complete control of all State business. But whatever the exact form of government, the most important point to bear in mind is the election of few officials and the concentration of responsibility upon their shoulders. As Government by a small Council or Commission is the ideal form of government. One-man government is bound to be too highly colored by a single point of view; the mutual deliberation of several minds, the reaction upon one another's ideas, the correction of one another's idiosyncrasies, leads to a greater wisdom. But our government has more often suffered from too wide a diffusion of power. Lord Bryce wrote, in The American Commonwealth, "There is in the American government, considered as a whole, a want of unity. The branches are unconnected and their efforts are not directed to one aim, do not produce one harmonious result." The plan of concentrated responsibility here urged will correct this generally recognized fault in our political mechanism. Our Government will still be as democratic; the appointees of our few elected officials are actually more likely to represent the interests of the people than those who, under our present complicated and confusing plan, are nominated by party leaders and blindly elected by the voters. The City Manager plan has proved to be the best political mechanism yet devised in this country. A small City Council is elected by popular vote. This Council appoints an expert administrator-the City Manager, he is usually called-to take complete charge of the municipal business. The members of the Council are men whom the voters trust, but not necessarily experts in the profession of running a city government. Nor could the voters be trusted to judge of the qualifications of candidates for this skilled vocation. But by this indirect method, city administration can be made an expert profession. A young man may enter it as he would enter the law, or medicine; he may offer his services first to some small town, and work his way up to the administration of a great city. This will not be possible until we take city government "out of politics," that is, out of party control. But a non-partisan, small city Council, entrusted with the entire responsibility for the City's welfare, and closely watched by the electorate, will have every possible incentive for seeing to it that the City's business is efficiently done. Such a City Manager finds it to his advantage to satisfy the citizens as a whole-not a particular party or section. His continuance in office, and his whole future career, depend upon the reputation he makes. If he makes good, a change in the personnel of the Council will not necessarily remove him from office; there is more likelihood of stability of government under this than under any other form of democratic government. Similar plans of delegated government are applicable to State and National affairs. Appointed officials and commissions should do a great deal of the expert work that is now handled by elected officials. The elected officials are responsible to the people, and will therefore keep a sharp eye upon their appointees. But they need not make politics their vocation, and may retain their regular professions. In this way the ablest and best known citizens can accept these high offices, decide upon the best available trained experts to call in to carry on the various functions of government, without themselves having to devote their time to becoming expert in those manifold duties. We can thus have specialization of function, and expert service, combined with quick responsiveness, through the elective Council or Executive, to the popular will. Coupled with this mechanism of indirect government and concentrated responsibility, we should elaborate a plan for a greater participation of the people in public discussion. These open forums should not be party affairs, or confined to occupational groups, because we should then have a parti pris, a one-sided point of view. We do not want more meetings to defend a party dogma, to whip people into line with a platform. We want meetings of people with varying views, for the purpose of mutual understanding, the clarification of ideas, and their integration, through reciprocal suggestion, into something more nearly representing a Common Will. Neighborhood units, not so large as to be unwieldy, but large enough to bring together men and women of diverse convictions and experiences, and to evoke leadership, make the best political groups. Such groups, meeting periodically for discussion of public questions, would produce a public opinion in far greater degree than now independent of the manipu lated party-opinion and the manipulated newspaperopinion now so overwhelmingly dominant. Perhaps eventually we shall use such Neighborhood Groups as electoral units, and send a representative from each one-some one who is personally known and approved by the group, and has shown the qualities of leadership therein-to our elective Council. At any rate, we must not be afraid of trying new methods. Our politics have got into a rut. The system perhaps once adequate needs revision in the light of contemporary experience. The revision must always be for the purpose of realizing our traditional ideals. But it is those ideals, not the particular ways and means that our fathers devised, that are sacred. Washington himself criticized the Constitution sharply, finding in it "a host of vices and inexpediencies." We must be as critical in our attitudenot destructively but constructively critical. Once and for all, we must give up our complacent reliance upon exhortation to the electorate and abuse of the politicians. Human nature will continue to be human nature; we must utilize it as it is. Instead of abortive or purely transient attempts to "purify" politics, we must put into operation methods that are practicable and that do not so readily lend themselves to anti-social practices. The devotion of the youth of the land is needed to evolve a system of representative government of which we may properly be proud. SUGGESTED READINGS James Bryce, The American Commonwealth. D. F. Wilcox, Government by all the People. C. R. Henderson, The Social Spirit in America, Chap. XI. R. S. Childs, Short Ballot Principles. E. S. Bradford, Commission Government in American Cities. W. B. Munroe, The Government of American Cities. C. E. Rightor, City Manager in Dayton. |