Public Opinion and Representative Government
The ultimate sovereignty of the people.
How the People Rule.—In free governments the will of the people prevails in the decision of all important matters. This does not mean, of course, that the people decide every question directly, but merely that when a substantial majority of them have reached a decision upon any point their will prevails through one channel or another. The wishes of the American people have at times been thwarted by their government; but in the long run, when the people have made up their minds, their will has brushed aside every obstacle and has become the supreme law of the land. This popular control of American government is exerted in four ways, namely, by the pressure of public opinion upon all officials, by the periodic election of representatives, by direct law-making through the initiative and referendum, and by the action of the people in amending their state constitutions.
The pressure of public opinion is continuous, and it is exerted in various ways. The government cannot proceed very far in defiance of it. The election of representatives, on the other hand, takes place at stated intervals, and in the period between elections the people do not have direct control over those whom they elect. But where provision for the initiative and referendum exists, the people may frame and enact laws without the intervention of their representatives and thus may exercise direct control. Finally, the ultimate agency of popular sovereignty is the power of the people to amend their constitutions. So far as the state constitutions are concerned they accept or reject proposed changes by their own votes; in the case of the national constitution they act through their representatives in Congress and in the state legislatures. By these four methods of control we maintain what is known as the sovereignty of the people.
What is public opinion?
Popular Rule through Public Opinion.—We hear a good deal nowadays about public opinion. What is it? How is it ascertained? How does it make itself felt? In general, public opinion is the term which we apply to the predominating sentiment among the people. Public opinion is the sum-total of opinions held by individuals. It is not merely the snap-judgment of the majority, however, because intensity of belief is a factor which counts in determining it. Public opinion is a composite of numbers and intensity. A majority of the people may hold a certain belief upon any public question; but if they hold it lightly, without attaching much importance to it, we do not speak of their sentiment as public opinion. It is only when sentiment attains the earnestness of conviction that the term public opinion can be properly applied to it.
The channels through which it makes itself felt.
Public opinion, in this sense, is continually exerting pressure upon all branches of government in the United States. It finds expression through the editorial columns of newspapers, through resolutions adopted by societies and organizations, through letters from voters to their representatives in Congress and in the legislatures, and through the conversation of people wherever they are gathered together. The representatives of the people are ever on the alert to discern the drift of public opinion.[[24]] They desire to keep in touch with it. A capable representative always keeps his hand upon the public pulse. When public opinion undergoes a change, the attitude of the government swings with it, slowly perhaps, but inevitably. Public opinion is not easy to ascertain exactly, for it cannot be measured by any process of arithmetic. Some men are better at gauging it than others. One of the attributes of a successful politician is his ability to estimate public opinion accurately. When we say, therefore, that we have “government by public opinion”, we mean that those who are in authority are influenced and guided by it.
Government by representatives.
Popular Rule through Representatives.—Although public opinion exerts a guiding influence upon the course of government, the actual work of making the laws and putting them into operation must be performed, for the most part, by individuals selected for this purpose, that is by elective or appointive officers. We say “elective or appointive” because these are the two ways in which officers of government may be chosen; they may be elected by popular vote, or they may be appointed by some authority which, in turn, has been elected by the people. The members of all legislative bodies in the United States (Congress, the state legislatures, city and town councils) are directly elected by the people. The chief executive officers in the nation, state, and city (President, governors, and mayors) are chosen in the same way.[[25]] In many states it is also the custom to choose some other executive officers, such as the attorney-general, state auditors, superintendent of education, as well as the judges and prosecuting attorneys by direct popular election. Subordinate officers of administration, on the other hand, are for the most part appointed. In the national government all officials of administration subordinate to the President are appointed by him, likewise all judges and court officers. In the state and local governments, some subordinate officers are elected but most of them are appointed by the governor, the county commissioners, or the mayor, as the case may be.
When we should elect and when appoint.
Election or Appointment, Which is Better?—We often encounter the question: Which is the better plan of securing good men in public office—to elect them or to have them appointed? The answer to this question depends upon what we expect the officials to do. If the function of the official is to represent the people in deciding questions of general policy as in the case of a congressman, a state legislator, or a municipal councilman, the people ought to choose him. It is the right and the duty of the people to choose their own representatives. If they did not do so, we should not have “representative” government. But if the function of the official is not to decide questions of general policy but to do work which requires skill and experience, it is better to make the office appointive. The rule, in brief, may be stated as follows: When you want representation, elect; when you want skill or experience, appoint. Some difficulty arises, however, in the case of officials who are expected both to represent the people and to perform functions which require expertness. Take, for example, the state treasurer or the state auditor. These officials represent the financial interests of the people; they are also called upon to perform functions which require skill and experience. Officials in this dual class are in some states elected; in others they are appointed by the governor. Whether we ought to use one method or the other depends upon where we place the emphasis—upon representation or upon administrative efficiency. Account should also be taken of the fact that if too many officials are elected the ballot will be long and complicated. In that case some poorly-qualified candidates are likely to be chosen because voters will not go through a long list carefully (see p. [132]).
Should a representative obey his own conscience or the will of the voters?
The Function of a Representative.—The function of a representative, as the term implies, is to represent. But how is he to be guided in the performance of this function? Is it the duty of a representative in Congress or in a state legislature to reflect the public opinion of his district whether he personally agrees with it or not? Should he obey the dictates of his own conscience and follow his own view of what the public welfare demands, or should he disregard these things and consider only the opinions of those voters who elected him? Let us suppose, for example, that a congressman personally believes in free trade. He is absolutely convinced, let us assume, that this is the only right policy. But he also knows, let us say, that the voters of his district are overwhelmingly in favor of high protective duties because they believe that wages will be higher if foreign goods are shut out. What is the duty of this congressman when called upon to vote for or against a protective tariff? Which should control—his own conviction or the opinions of those who elected him as their representative?
Edmund Burke’s views.
Many years ago the eminent Irish orator and statesman, Edmund Burke, gave his opinion on this matter in a speech to the voters of Bristol, whom he represented in the British House of Commons. A representative, according to Burke, ought to give due weight to the opinions of those who elected him, but he ought not to sacrifice his own best judgment to any man or to any group of men. It is the function of a representative to master all the details of public problems, which the people of his district cannot be expected to do, and to make his decision accordingly. “I maintained your interests against your opinions,” he said to the voters of Bristol in defending his actions. “A representative worthy of you ought to be a person of stability. I am to look, indeed, to your opinions, but to such opinions as you and I must have five years hence. I am not to look to the flash of the day.”
Public officials in the United States do not usually talk that way. They dilate upon the wisdom of the people, and profess their own readiness to conform to whatever the people demand. They are prone to forget that a representative in Congress or in a state legislature does not represent his own district alone. He is in effect a representative of the whole people in nation or state. It is poor patriotism to sacrifice the best interests of the whole to the desires of any single community. At the same time when public opinion is strong and clear, we expect the representatives of the people to hearken to it. When it is vague or in doubt, the representative must depend upon his own judgment. If a representative cannot, because of his own conscientious belief, do what the people expect him to do, his duty is to resign. Representatives, however, do not often resign for this or any other reason.
The Appointment of Public Officials.
Methods of Appointment.—There are three ways of making appointments. First, appointments may be made by some high executive officer, such as the President or the governor of a state, subject to the confirmation of a legislative body. Second, they may be made by the executive without the advice and consent of anyone else. Third, they may be made under civil service rules by a competitive examination.[[26]]
The merits and defects of confirmation.
Appointments with Confirmation.—In the national government practically all appointments of high importance, including heads of departments, ambassadors, judges, and so on, are made by the President subject to the consent of the Senate. The President nominates, but the final appointment depends upon confirmation by a majority of the senators (see p. [270]). So in state government the appointment of higher administrative officials is usually shared by the governor and the upper chamber of the state legislature. In the larger cities it has been the custom to require confirmation of the mayor’s appointments by the city council or the upper branch of it; but this requirement is now being generally abandoned. The purpose of requiring confirmation is to prevent too great a growth in power on the part of the chief executive; its effect has been to divide responsibility and it has resulted, very often, in poor appointments. It is good policy, in local and state government at least, to insist that the responsibility for appointments shall be centralized and not divided. In the national government, where the appointing power is of such enormous importance, and might, if unchecked, be so easily used to perpetuate a President in office, the safeguard of confirmation is more easily justified.
Appointments without Confirmation.—The practice of permitting a chief executive to make appointments without confirmation began in the large cities. New York made the start, many years ago, by allowing the mayor to appoint the heads of the city departments on his own responsibility. Since then the plan has spread widely and in some cases the states have given the governor a similar power. In other cases the confirmation has become, for the most part, a matter of routine, the understanding being that the governor has the real responsibility and hence should be left free to make his own selections.