The men of our day…have realized that the cultivation of the electors intelligence is at least as likely to open a window on the arguments of their opponents as on their own; therefore it is labour lost. The faculty of reason may lie relatively unused in the majority of a people, but there is not a man anywhere who is incapable of emotion. And it is to the emotions, therefore, that appeal must be made. Rouse in your behalf trust, hope, and affection; rouse against your rival indignation, anger, and hatred— and success is yours. It is truly complete when a public meeting can be induced to cheer a speech which it cannot understand, and to greet the other sides reply with stampings of the feet…The result is that good citizenship, so far from being awakened among those who are as yet without it, gets extinguished in those who already have it. To stifle the curiosity which may be aroused by an outstanding orator on the other side, to kill the desire for the knowledge which comes from an understanding of the arguments on both sides, to destroy the natural amiability which predisposes a man favourably to his neighbour, the chord of party loyalty is struck. To read the enemys newspaper becomes a treason, no less than to attend his meetings except for the purpose of drowning his voice and afterwards confuting him with the help of a manual for hecklers… The further the organization of parties is pushed and the greater the part that is played in winning elections by the flag and the machine, so much the more complete is the subjection of the member of congress or parliament to that machine, which is the real holder of his seat. Parliament is then no longer a sovereign assembly in which an elite of independent citizens compare freely formed opinions and so arrive at reasonable decisions. It is now only a clearing-house in which the various parties measure their respective parcels of votes against each others. The more powerful the machine becomes and the tighter the bonds of party discipline are drawn, the less does debate matter: it no longer changes votes. The bangings of desks take the place of arguments. Parliamentary debates are no longer a school for citizens but a circus for boobies… Stupid slogans, which come trippingly to the tongue and are a pleasure to repeat, songs which exalt the comrades and ridicule the enemy, these are the stuff of politics. Mix with it a little doctrine, but only a very little, and reduce it to the simplest propositions. (From Bertrand de Jouvenels On Power)
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 14:55:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015