Show cause of decay all the great modern democracies have to contend almost for existence against the popular disposition to treat elective offices as representative and to consider it of more importance that they should bo filled by persons holding certain opinions than by persons most competent to perform their duties the distinction between representing and administering seems plain enough and yet the democratic tendency has been everywhere ery where since the french revolution to obscure it this has not unnaturally led to the idea that the offices are rewards for the persons who have done most to propagate or defend the views which they represent and ought to be given to them independently of their fitness to this confusion of two distinct functions I 1 must ascribe the deterioration which has been remarked EO frequently in the legislatures of all democratic countries in modern times the number of men of experience or special knowledge as well as of conspicuous men which they contain seems to decline steadily while the interests committed to their charge as steadily seem to increase this disregard of special fitness combined with the unwillingness to acknowledge that there can be anything special about any man both of which are born of equality constitutes the great defect of modern democracy E L godkin in atlantic |