The New State · Chapter
XXI: After Direct Government—What? explained
The chapter argues that direct government (initiative, referendum) will fail if it treats the people as a crowd rather than as interpenetrating groups.
What happens
The chapter argues that direct government (initiative, referendum) will fail if it treats the people as a crowd rather than as interpenetrating groups. It critiques the let-alone and regulation policies, advocating for a constructive social policy that expresses the people's collective will. The author emphasizes that true democracy requires group organization, education, and a new individualism where the social individual becomes the community-unit. The three movements—administrative responsibility, direct control, and social legislation—are interdependent and must be accompanied by methods that make every citizen's daily life the substance of politics.
Themes in this chapter
Rejection of Crowd Psychology and Mass Rule
The chapter explicitly rejects the conception of the people as a crowd, arguing that direct government based on counting individuals leads to crowd rule and tyranny of numbers.
Group Process as the Foundation of True Democracy
Emphasizes that group organization is essential for direct government to succeed; the individual learns to express the collective will through interpenetrating groups.
Education for Social Citizenship and Group Life
Calls for a different system of education and opportunities for intermingling to develop an educated and responsible citizenship that can evolve common ideas.
Transformation of Law and Justice Through Group Principles
Discusses the shift from law serving particularist individuals to serving the community, with the social individual as the community-unit, citing Roscoe Pound.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
Argues that direct government must be based on group organization, not crowd rule, and that the corruption of politics stems from viewing the people as a crowd.
- We the People
Referred to as the electorate that must be organized; the people are capable of more than imitation and must express the common will through group life.
- Roscoe Pound
Cited for his view that law serves social interests and that the chief social interest is the full human life of the individual, embodying the new individualism.
- Jefferson
Mentioned as the Democrat in 1800 when the opposite idea of government (protection of individual rights) prevailed.
- Hamilton
Contrasted with Jefferson; not considered the Democrat in 1800.
Key passages
“the corruption of politics is due largely to the conception of the people as a crowd. To change this idea is, I believe, the first step in the reform of our political life.”
Political corruption stems from viewing the public as a mindless mob; reforming this view is essential for political improvement.
Central thesis of the chapter: the crowd conception undermines democracy.
“Direct government will not succeed if it is operated through the party organization; it will not succeed even if separated from party control if it means the crowd in another guise.”
Direct government fails whether controlled by parties or not, as long as it treats the people as a crowd.
Critique of direct government without group organization.
“The regulation theory of government is that we are to give every opportunity for efficiency to come to the top in order that we shall get the benefit of that efficiency, but at the same time our governmental machinery is to be such that efficiency is to be shorn of its power before it can do any harm.”
Regulation theory allows efficiency to rise but then curbs it before it can cause damage, like a safety valve on a boiler.
Metaphor for the regulation policy's flaw.
“Social legislation means legislation for the individual man: health laws, shorter hours of work, workmen’s compensation, old age pensions, minimum wage, prevention of industrial accidents, prohibition of child labor, etc.”
Social legislation targets the well-being of each person through laws on health, labor, and safety.
Definition of social legislation as individual-focused.
“The individual not the group must be the basis of organization. But the individual is created by many groups, his vote cannot express his relation to one group; it must ideally, I have said, express the whole from his point of view.”
Organization starts with the individual, who is shaped by multiple groups; the vote should reflect the whole from that individual's perspective.
Balancing individual and group in political expression.
