Suppose then, that, in a
country governed by equal and universal suffrage, there is a contested
election in every constituency, and every election is carried by a
small majority. The Parliament thus brought together represents little
more than a bare majority of the people. This Parliament proceeds to
legislate, and adopts important measures by a bare majority of itself.
What guarantee is there that these measures accord with the wishes
of a majority of the people? Nearly half the electors, having been
outvoted at the hustings, have had no influence at all in the
decision; and the whole of these may be, a majority of them probably
are, hostile to the measures, having voted against those by whom
they have been carried. Of the remaining electors, nearly half have
chosen representatives who, by supposition, have voted against the
measures. It is possible, therefore, and not at all improbable, that
the opinion which has prevailed was agreeable only to a minority of
the nation, though a majority of that portion of it whom the
institutions of the country have erected into a ruling class. If
democracy means the certain ascendancy of the majority, there are no
means of insuring that but by allowing every individual figure to tell
equally in the summing up. Any minority left out, either purposely
or by the play of the machinery, gives the power not to the
majority, but to a minority in some other part of the scale.
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