Armed with the ballot, more powerful than the
sword, each citizen is able to protect himself. But this is
theory, not reality. If it were true, the division of the
powers of government between two co-ordinate, governments would
be of no practical importance. Experience does not sustain the
theory, and the power of the ballot to protect the individual
may be rendered ineffective by the tyranny of party. Experience
proves that the ballot is far less effective in securing the
freedom and independence of the individual citizen than is
commonly pretended. The ballot of an isolated individual counts
for nothing. The individual, though armed with the ballot, is
as powerless, if he stands alone, as if he had it not. To
render it of any avail he must associate himself with a party,
and look for his success in the success of his party; and to
secure the success of his party, he must give up to it his own
private convictions and free will. In practice, individuals are
nothing individually, and parties are every thing. Even the
suppression of the late rebellion, and the support of the
Administration in doing it, was made a party question, and the
government found the leaders of the party opposed to the
Republican party an obstacle hardly less difficult to surmount
than the chiefs of the armies of the so-called Confederate
States.
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