Essentials in civil government; . of theland. This is what majority rule means and is what democ-racy means. So while studying the simple httle contriv-ance of majority rule we are brought face to face with thegreatest and noblest of all political themes—democracy. Democracy a Government of Reason.—In the firstplace you should understand that democracy means some-thing more than the counting of votes. Democracy is agovernment of reason. Suppose a ball team wanted todecide whether or not a game should be played with ateam in an adjoining town; would it do nothing but takea vote on the question?
Essentials in civil government; . of theland. This is what majority rule means and is what democ-racy means. So while studying the simple httle contriv-ance of majority rule we are brought face to face with thegreatest and noblest of all political themes—democracy. Democracy a Government of Reason.—In the firstplace you should understand that democracy means some-thing more than the counting of votes. Democracy is agovernment of reason. Suppose a ball team wanted todecide whether or not a game should be played with ateam in an adjoining town; would it do nothing but takea vote on the question? No; that would be very the vote was taken the subject would be talkedover: the strength of the rival team would be discussed; MAJORITY RULE 63 previous engagements would be considered; the expenseof the trip would be taken into account. After these andother matters were fully considered the vote would betaken and the result would depend upon the points broughtout by the speakers. That would be the right kind of. majority rule, for it would be government by discussion;it would be the rule of reason. Some boys are playing at push ball. One boy pushessouth with a force, we will say, of 75 pounds; a secondboy pushes north with a force of 125 pounds; a thirdboy pushes east with a force of 100 pounds; a fourth boy,more powerful than the rest, pushes west with a forceof 150 pounds. The ball does not move directly south,north, east, or west, but yields a little to each boy. Thestrongest boy, however, does the most in directing the 64 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT course of the ball. Now our government is in manyrespects like a push ball that is being worked at by a
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