The People's Power or How to Wield the Ballot (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 Excerpt: ...do. The way proportional representation assaults a party organization is this: It gives the people liberty to assail a party that is about to enslave them, and it.gives them also a weapon that will make the assault victorious every time, when the assailants are in the majority. And pray tell us if a majority has not a right to assail? This kind of majority rule is real, while the present sham frequently renders the majority as helpless as a child. (See the Slave Pens.) On the other hand, the present system, in the case of a majority of one, permits a single man to assault a whole party and defeat it. Thus we have reduced the whole sum and substance of charge No. 3 down to the plain and simple fact that, under proportional representation, an attack upon a party organization would be harmless unless made by an overwhelming force; this force in all probability would be made up of material from each of two or more great parties already in the field, who might still retain the same relative strength, as against each other, that they had previously, and wield all the power they would be justly entitled to. If one or both should lose enough supporters to be utterly routed and broken up, then the majority would rule in reality, and the fundamental principle of republican government would Not be nullified and set aside. Fourth Charge: "Some of its most important effects cannot be distinctly foreseen." Answer: One of its most important effects would be to give the whole people a voice in the making of laws, and thus enable them to regulate their own affairs, which is just what this government was intended for. This fourth charge is indeed very ambiguous and indefinite. It specifies nothing in particular, but admits that important results will follow in the ...