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Show Representative Democracy Inadequate to Deal With World's Great Problems By PROF. HARRY ELMER BARNES, Smith College. THE present political system of representative democracy has been proved by science and history to be inadequate for the solution of the economic, social and political problems of the nation. We must recognize the inadequacy of representative government, and we can remedy its defects by insisting upon special training for public pub-lic service in the legislative and executive branches of government much as in thepresent civil service. We must recognize the validity of the class system of voting, that is, proportional or weighted voting, to insure domination of the intellectual persons. The assumptions on which democracy was based were: The relatively rela-tively simple agricultural society of early America with correspondingly simple political and social problems, representative units of homogeneous nature without conflicting interests, the idea that all men are equal in capacity, the belief in justice and validity of universal suffrage, the conviction con-viction that all people have an ardent interest in politics and that they, study carefully candidates and their qualities before voting, the idea that masses have a special capacity for sensing injustice and for leading crusades cru-sades for reform, and the conception of isolation from international affairs. af-fairs. Every one of these assumptions has been rendered invalid by the industrial in-dustrial revolution, and as a result the idea of representative democracy has been so changed that it is now useless. Only 50 per cent of the peo pie now vole, and these have to be dragged out by politicians with threats,, money, favors, prejudices, geographical arguments, conventions and social so-cial settings. The arguments of the parties now do nothing but paralyze intelligent selection of candidates. Perhaps there will come a day, 1,000 years from now, when we will look back upon this system of representative democracy as the modern chemist looks back upon alchemy. |