FROM THE ARCHIVES:Representative democracy was widely derided in the late 1930s as the alternatives of fascism and communism appeared to some in Ireland, as elsewhere, to be the way of the future. Such sentiments prompted The Irish Timesto defend democracy on this day in 1938. – JOE JOYCE
THERE IS abroad to-day a dangerous and foolish notion that democracy is necessarily inefficient, and that a totalitarian control of everything, including public opinion, is essential if the business of the community is to receive adequate attention. [. . .] In this, as in other democratically-governed States, the Government has been given power, not so much upon a detailed programme, as upon a particular line of policy.
A considerable proportion of the population is convinced that the policy is against the country’s best interests, and the Opposition is manifested by the return of anti-Government representatives to the elected Chamber. Members elected to support the general policy of the Government may, on occasions, be opposed to the application of that policy in matters of detail. In this country the Premier is not yet a Führer; he is a servant of the people.
He and his Government may be criticised freely, and removed from office if their policy and administration are judged to be unsatisfactory. Obviously, it is the duty of a deputy to point out the defects of the Government, and to offer critical advice when such advice is deemed necessary. [. . .]
It is easy to fall into the error of thinking that the process of government is something that may be reduced to the simplest scientific terms. But government is not a science; it is an art in which skill can be attained by assiduous practice, study and observation. In the process of training for the governmental bench, the Opposition has the duty of keeping the public informed about the doings of the Government, of maintaining the administration, of offering advice on matters on which the Government seems to be badly informed, and of being a kind of continuous audit on the acts of the Executive. [. . .]
Democratic government, it has to be realised, is an experiment, not merely the shortest route to a desired end. Efficiency, therefore, is not the test by which democracy is to be tried.
The entire collectivity of senators and deputies could not assemble a motor car or lay down a mile of road in competition with skilled mechanics or road- makers. They have not been elected or selected for any potential technical talent that they may, or may not, possess; they have been sent to represent the whole population in the hope that in the assemblage, all the facets and the interests will find display and expression. Political education, the diffusion of information about the State and the nation, is at least as important in life as a ruthless efficiency.
No doubt, the work of the community might be done more expeditiously and more cheaply if it were controlled by a single expert. The right to a voice in the disposition of person and property is worth an occasional mistake.
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