WHAT MAKES A DEMOCRACY TICK?
Kasper, Sydney H.
What Makes A Democracy Tick? Better Politics, Better Bureaucrats, Says Paul Appleby BIG DEMOCRACY, by Paul H. Appleby. Alfred A. Knopf. $2.75. Reviewed by Sydney H. Kasper WHILE discussing the...
...Appleby states that government is politics and, "At its best, politics is statesmanship...
...It is only through politics and politicians that people can express themselves, can influence legislation and administration...
...that is in great part the measure of superiority over such regimes...
...for specific matters we must 'work through representative rather than direct popular government...
...It would automatically remove the Board from any control by the people...
...Citizens gathering en masse to discuss the governing of a great nation in the town-meeting technique would be fatal...
...And that is the point made so sharply over and over again by Paul Appleby in his provocative, illuminating Big Democracy...
...Yet our democracy cannot survive without either politicians or bureaucrats, one group to chart the course for the country, the other to follow it...
...But greater participation in government does not mean unlimited direct participation...
...READING this book will save many a student of public administration some hard knocks when he bumps up against polities and administration in the public arena, will give Congressmen a much better -understanding of the desires and limitations of bureaucrats, will help guide bureaucrats in their dealings with pressure groups and politicians, and will give every citizen a genuine insight into the workings of our Big Democracy...
...Reviewed by Sydney H. Kasper WHILE discussing the sad state of affairs in the Chicago school system with an able political scientist I once said, "The trouble is that the Board of Education is a political football...
...It must therefore be more powerful than any single pressure group or any combination of pressure groups...
...Appleby shows a depth of understanding of and belief in democracy that is all too rarely found in our so-called leaders in government, business, and politics: ". . . so many people talk about government as something to be improved only by reducing or eliminating its political composition that it is necessary to emphasize the facts that popular political processes, which are the essence of democracy, can only work through governmental organizations, and that all governmental organizations are not merely administrative entities...
...Politics" is as much an anathema to most people as is "bureaucrat"—and both are frequently lumped together...
...Big democracy demands big government, says the author, and the trend both outside and inside government is towards bigness...
...Every government official is responsible to the whole people...
...he replied...
...Heavens, no...
...That would be the worst possible action to take...
...The improvement of our Government is a political problem to be solved by political processes, wnetner citizen snoos agree or not...
...How can we achieve security in the face of America's traditional contempt for convention and hostility towards government...
...Writing with a background of 12 years experience as a top executive in the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of the Budget, Mr...
...One of the demands of our big democracy is security, which in turn means more authority in and more action by government...
...It must take into consideration thousands of needs other than those of pressure groups...
...Government should show consideration for and be influenced by all sorts of organizations, but no one group should have, a monopoly on consultation with government, nor should government delegate responsibility to any non-government group...
...Government is not merely the summation of the needs of agriculture, business, and labor, or the arbitrator of their competitive needs...
...they are and must be political organisms . . . Democratic governments are far more political than authoritarian governments...
...We have political government in the United States in the degree we do because of the rights and franchise of free speech...
...It should be taken out of politics...
...Into this brief book is packed an amazing amount of fact, suggestion, and criticism on the roles of bureaucracy, Congress, and the public in government, why government is different from all other activities and businesses, how the public can and does influence government, relationships between government and Congress, and how we can adjust our national government to cooperate in an international organization...
...Our search may go to the extremes of Germany and Russia—unless we maintain a genuine regard for individual values...
...THIS is not a new thought, but it bears repeating because it is so little recognized by so many Americans...
...The problem will not be solved by refusing to face the fact of complexity, and it is the responsibility of all, including those who fear bigness most, to help give our big government form and content, to see that it provides efficient, high quality service...
Vol. 9 • July 1945 • No. 30
