Such precautions
have existed in all well-constructed democracies. The Athenian
Constitution had many such provisions; and so has that of the United
States.
But while it is essential to representative government that the
practical supremacy in the state should reside in the
representatives of the people, it is an open question what actual
functions, what precise part in the machinery of government, shall
be directly and personally discharged by the representative body.
Great varieties in this respect are compatible with the essence of
representative government, provided the functions are such as secure
to the representative body the control of everything in the last
resort.
There is a radical distinction between controlling the business of
government and actually doing it. The same person or body may be
able to control everything, but cannot possibly do everything; and
in many cases its control over everything will be more perfect the
less it personally attempts to do. The commander of an army could
not direct its movements effectually if he himself fought in the
ranks, or led an assault. It is the same with bodies of men. Some
things cannot be done except by bodies; other things cannot be well
done by them. It is one question, therefore, what a popular assembly
should control, another what it should itself do. It should, as we
have already seen, control all the operations of government.
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