You'll find quote this on slides 20 and 21. It comes from a 1979 article written by Jeane Kirkpatrick which was critical of the Carter Administration's foreign policy. For our purposes here, that is insignificant, but her analysis of what it takes for a constitutional government to be both established and maintained is worth noting. It fits within the broader subject raised in the introduction, what does it take to sustain a democratic republic. A constitution is not enough - though a well designed one helps - it takes a public that has the traits necessary to do so.
- Here's a link to the full article.
Here's the quote I pulled out for the slides:
In his essay on Representative Government, John Stuart Mill identified three fundamental conditions. . . . These are: "One, that the people should be willing to receive it [representative government]; two, that they should be willing and able to do what is necessary for its preservation; three, that they should be willing and able to fulfill the duties and discharge the functions which it imposes on them.
Fulfilling the duties and discharging the functions of representative government make heavy demands on leaders and citizens, demands for participation and restraint, for consensus and compromise. It is not necessary for all citizens to be avidly interested in politics or well-informed about public affairs–although far more widespread interest and mobilization are needed than in autocracies. What is necessary is that a substantial number of citizens think of themselves as participants in society’s decision-making and not simply as subjects bound by its laws. Moreover, leaders of all major sectors of the society must agree to pursue power only by legal means, must eschew (at least in principle) violence, theft, and fraud, and must accept defeat when necessary. They must also be skilled at finding and creating common ground among diverse points of view and interests, and correlatively willing to compromise on all but the most basic values.
Let's break this down a bit. Hopefully you've noticed that John Stuart Mill is referenced in a couple places in the class - mostly having to do with establishing the limits of what a government should be able to do. This is the harm principle - which I might ask a question about in the final exam. He also provided one of the better reasons why freedom provides tangible benefits for society, more on this later - but again, very likely things I'll ask questions about on the final exam.
Here are key points from the quote.
Three qualities are necessary in the general public for a republic (a representative government) to survive.
1 - people have to want it
2 - people have to want to work to preserve it
3 - people should be able to perform the function and duties it requires.
Part of the point of the first section was that an educated population is necessary to meet those three requirements.
Kirkpatrick goes a bit further in clarifying the last of these requirements: the demands on the public. To me this gets to the meat of the matter:
- people have to participate
- - they have to see themselves as participants in the process
- - not just subjects
- people have to practice restraint
- - legal means only must be used to achieve objectives
- - violence, fraud and theft must be avoided
- - people must be willing to accept defeat
- people have to work to achieve consensus
- - common ground among people with diverse points of views have to be found
- people have to be willing to compromise
- - unless it is a fundamental value, people have to be willing to give things up
Its a good starting point for a discussion about works and does not work in a republic, which means not just what works and does not work in the government, but since it a government based on the consent of the governed, what works and does not work in the general public, within each of us.
