Deadlock in Government:

...Beard is correct in his belief regarding some of the things that this "logic" requires...

...Beard seems to think, moreover, that the parliamentary system ia required to make certain arrangements, not because they are good on their own account, but because it must be driven by its own "logic" to do them, it is true, of course, thst the parliamentary system has a "logic" in the sense that it is rational...

...It is no more an inherent violation of the logic of a parliamentary system than it is of the logic of a congressional-presidential system to restrict the powers of the legislature by a written constitution...

...enough, impaaeieaej enough, determined enough, it can ignore or deeare* the constitutional safeguards...

...It is a mistake to believe in the absolute "independence" of the judiciary in a responsible democratic government...

...They csn be put into effect and kept in effect only when enough persons within the majority recognize that the wisdom of the majority is not unlimited...

...The President and Congress should stsnd or fall on the verdict And the constant possibility of securing such an immediate verdict—through a vote of lack of confidence or a dissolution—is the essence of responsible cabinet government The Republh AMONG Ms ether tremendous " social effects, the war has revested the rluassteeae and un-wieldiaeas ef the Congressional system as aa efficient mechanism for democratic operation...

...No body of representatives or officials in a democratic government ought to have the unrestricted power to determine the length qf its own tenure1 of office...

...The average tenure ef office of a Canadian Premier has been more than seven years...

...Any constitution that stands in the way of an unhealthy public opinion, as the recent history of Europe has amply demonstrated, will be destroyed Dr...

...He lays great stress on the gains that would be achieved by a better internal organization of Congress...

...It does not follow that the provisions of that written constitution should be as inelastic as our own...

...Yet they have had a very stable parliamentary government...

...Deadlock in Government: Henry Hazlitt Discusses Charles Beard's Republic and Some Proposals for Change in Gov't CHARLES A. BEARD'S RepuUie is admirable ia many wayi, and not least of all because of his fairness in presenting views with which he disagrees...

...But such safeguards can be preserved, as they can be put into effect in the first place, only with the consent of the majority itself...

...It is good to have constitutions that limit power...

...The average tenure of office of a British Prime Minister in the last century has been five and a half years...

...No body of representatives or officials in democratic government ought to be able to deride without restriction the extent of its own powers...

...taction that the individual or the minority has is puttie opinion...

...If determination is strong enough, the leek can he shattered, the door can he broken down...

...They can then, as the Supreme Court so often does here, act in effect like a third legislative houae—but a third house that is beyond the control of the people's representatives and beyond the reach of the people themselves...

...It does, however, supply precisely the kind of elasticity, precisely the kind of constant responsibility to the people, that every democratic government should have...

...Beard writes as if the proposal for a parliamentary system in America was a proposal to transplant the British system here (with the possible exception of the monarchy and the peerage) lock, stock and barrel...

...thst the legislsture have the power of removing as well as selecting the Premier, and that he have the reciprocal power of dissolving the Legislature— both of these latter powers being subject to the ap-proval of the voters st the polls...

...Whore a healthy public opinion does not exist, no constitution can take its place...

...It is correct, for example, that the logic of the parliamentary system requires that the premier be selected by the legislature...

...Professor Beard has explored the merits and defects ef the parliamentary systems of America, Britain and France...

...Perhaps the meet thorough attempt te study the organisation of American democratic government, in recent times, snd te plumb Its historical and philosophical meanings, has been Charles A. Beard's r*e Repmklie...

...Under our system a Supreme Court justice can consistently make silly and dangerous decisions— and there is nothing we can do about it He can actually go insane—and there is still nothing we can do about it...

...And the radical difference was this: that in Great Britain the premier hsd the real power to dissolve a recalcitrant parliament, and that in France he had not...

...But it is not necessary that judges be absolutely "independent...

...But Dr...

...Yet Dr...

...Beard fails, in the first place, to separate the accidental accomplishments of the parliamentary system, aa they are found in this or that country, from the essence of it...

...Either Congress or the President should have a way of carrying the issue immediately before the voters of the country for decision...

...This again is the logic ef democratic government if it is to be responsible...

...it is a protection of minority rights and of individual rights, but it is never - an absolute protection...

...It may safely and perhaps profitably be granted Ahe power of forcing the first house to reconsider a debatable measure, or to pass it by more than a bare majority...

...Beard is wrong, however, in assuming that the logic of the parliamentary system requires that a single house be omnipotent, that there be no written constitution restricting its powers, and that the courts have no right to decide whether or nok the legislature has acted beyond its constitutional powers...

...Beard is partly right when he implies that under the logic of the parliamentary system the courts should not be absolutely "independent...

...Beard declares, that the logic of the parliamentary system requires that there should not be two houses of equal and coordinate powers...

...They can be put into effect only when many persons within a tempo-rary majority suspect that they may be at some other time or on some other issue in a minority...

...It is desirable in itself that the executive should formulate policy and aubmit it to the legislature for approval...

...This is a kind of "independence" that cannot be defended...

...r\R...

...It is necessary that judges be able, honest and impartial (and they have all these qualities in Great Britain at least to the extent that we have them here...

...But wherever the premier has the reciprocal power ef dissolving a recalcitrant legislature, then the member* of the legislature will think long and hard before they vote a lack of confidence in him...

...BEARD is right in wishing to place constitutional safeguards around the power of the majority over the minority...

...it is part of logic of responsible democratic government...

...The British system is immensely better than the system of the Third French Republic, snd immensely better than moat of the other pre-war-parliamentary systems on the European continent...

...If the majority is his...

...It is also, I think, a serious defect in the British system...

...The constitution could provide, for example, that no Congress remain in power for more than four years...

...Yet his discussion of the proposal for s parliamentary system in America, though far more open-minded and balanced than the usual discussion, reveals some remarkable misconceptions...

...And this fact has been recognised by a number ef scholars snd Journalists who have •robed its weakness...

...hut ultimately the only pre...

...In the last year there were, en the serious level, two books by Roland Young and Henry HasHtt which suggested sweeping changes in the Congressional set-up...

...Before the Third French Republic ever got suited Walter Bagehot, in 1872, predicted precisely this result, and for precisely this reason...

...For that power leads only to irresolvable deadlock, and irresolvable deadlock means governmental irresponsibility and governmental paralysis...

...but he appears to attribute the difference mainly to differences in national temperament He nowhere recognises that Britain and France, with whatever surface similarities, worked under radically different systems...

...But this is not merely part of the logic of parliamentary government...

...In this article, Henry Haalitt, editorial writer ef the New York Timet and author of A ftew ( enelitution—\oie, discusses the long-range issues raised by Beard...

...It is part of the logic of parliamentary' government—or of any responsible democratic system—that no one branch of the government can get out of hand and paralyze the processes of government...

...I agree with him fully that the kind of reorganization he has in mind would be highly desirable...

...If there is a second house, its powers should be limited to revision or to reasonable delay...

...It was because the French parliament could threw out the ministry without risking its own tenure of office that it threw out the ministry every few months...

...And Dr...

...Beard is not satisfied with our existing system of government, but he seems to believe that all the essential changes can be made without any important amendment of the Constitution...

...On a Journalistic level there have been books auch as Res Stout's snd Velts Terrey's which have inveighed sgsinst the foundering and obstructionist tactics ef Congress in pursuing the wsr...

...That discussion hi so important that 8 million-circulation Life haa serialised Beard's book...

...But the British aystetn'has its own defects, which no sensible American would wish to reproduce here...

...It is imperative that there should be no irresolvable deadlock between the executive and the legislature...

...He does not tell us what would happen if Congress and the President remained at loggerheads—if the President vetoed what Congress considered a vital measure, or if Congress refused te pass what the President considered a vital measure...

...This is not hair-trigger government...

...This power of removal should be safeguarded against abuse by appropriate provisions in a written constitution, but it ought to exist...

...The frequency with which governments would he changed under such a system is not, as Dr...

...Beard seems to believe, primarily a matter of national temperament Few of us would say that the Canadians are a mere Stable people than ourselves...

...If there is to be a written constitution we must necessarily depend upon the courts to interpret it...

...For when the courts can act without restriction or control they in turn can become tyrannical...

...Through a Series of dialogues on the Platonic pattern...

...These powers should be restricted by a written constitution...

...Under auch conditions legislators will fail to support a government measure, or will vote a lack of confidence in the ministry, only if they feel convinced that the people will support their action at the polls...

...No country can tolerate a deadlock of this sort in a crisis...

...IT is true also, as Dr...

...And here I think that Dr...

...And as a written constitution need not be too rigid, neither need it be so difficult or clumsy to amend as our own...

...For in such a vets they might be bringing their own term of office to aa end, aa the Premier could force them to go before the country for re-election...

...cauae they could do so without risking their own jess...

...It should be possible for the legislature and the executive to remove a judge by some process less clumsy and formidable than impeachment—a process that can be used, in any case, only against judges who are guilty of corruption or treason or other high crimea...

...but it could also qualify this by permitting a Congress by, say, a three-fourths vote, to extend its terra of office a year at a time during a war...

...But it cannot aafely, like our own Senate, be granted the power of absolute veto over the decisions of the first house...

...The French Deputies could be capricious and irresponsible...

...He recognises ' that "parliamentary government" worked better before the war in Great Britain, for example, than in Prance...

...Beard fails to set that this reorganization would not solve the centrsl difficulties of our system...

...They could throw out a Premier on the thinnest excuse, he...

...There is only one sensible way out of such aa impasse...

...The theoretical omnipotence of Parliament is merely an accident of the British system...

...Beard describes parliamentary government as "a kind of hair-trigger government" This describes the false kind of parliamentary government that prevailed under the Third French Republic...

...A constitutional safeguard is like a lock on the door...