"
This theory is usually called the democratic theory, and it
enlists in its support the instincts, the intelligence, the
living forces, and active tendencies of the age. Kings, kaisers,
and hierarchies are powerless before it, and war against it in
vain. The most they can do is to restrain its excesses, or to
guard against its abuses. Its advocates, in returning to it,
sometimes revive in its name the old pagan superstition. Not a
few of the European democrats recognize in the earth, in heaven,
or in hell, no power superior to the people, and say not only
people-king but people-God. They say absolutely, without any
qualification, the voice of the people is the voice of God, and
make their will the supreme law, not only in politics, but in
religion, philosophy, morals, science, and the arts. The people
not only found the state, but also the church. They inspire or
reveal the truth, ordain or prohibit worships, judge of
doctrines, and decide cases of conscience. Mazzini said , when
at the bead of the Roman Republic in 1848, the question of
religion must be remitted to the judgment of the people. Yet
this theory is the dominant theory of the age, and is in all
civilized nations advancing with apparently irresistible force.
But this theory has its difficulties. Who are the collective
people that have the rights of society, or, who are the sovereign
people? The word people is vague, and in itself determines
nothing.
Pages:
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89