A．The rejection of democratic procedures is partly attr……
TEXT A
Thomas Jefferson, who died
in 1826, looms ever larger as a figure of special significance. Americans, of
course, are familiar with Jefferson as an early statesman, author of the
Declaration of Independence, and a high-ranking presidential Founding Father.
But there is another Jefferson less well known. This is the Jefferson who, as
the outstanding American philosopher of democracy, has an increasing appeal to
the world’ s newly emerging peoples.
There is no other man in
history who formulated the ideas of democracy with such fullness, persuasive
ness, and logic. Those interested in democracy as a poetical philosophy and
system--even those who do not accept his postulates or are critical of his
solutions--must reckon with his thought.
What, then, is his
thought, and how much of it is still relevant under modem conditions
Of all the ideas and beliefs that make up the political philosophy known
as Jefferson democracy, perhaps three are paramount. These are the idea of
equality, the idea of freedom, and the idea of the people’ s control over
government. Underlying the whole, and serving as a major premise, is confidence
in man.
To Jefferson, it was virtually axiomatic that the human
being was essentially good, that he was capable of constant improvement through
education and reason. He believed that "no definite limit could be assigned" to
man’ s continued progress from ignorance and superstition to enlightenment and
happiness. Unless this kept in mind, Jefferson cannot be understood
properly.
What did he mean by the concept of equality, which he
stated as a "self-evident" troth Obviously, he was not foolish enough to
believe that all men are equal in size or intelligence or talents or moral
development. He never said that men are equal, but only that they come into the
world with "equal rights". He believed that equality was a political rather than
a biological or psychological or economic conception. It was a gift that man
acquired automatically by coming into the world as a member of the human
community.
Intertwined with equality was the concept of freedom,
also viewed by Jefferson as a "natural right." In the Declaration of
Independence he stated it as "self-evident" that liberty was one of the
"inherent" and "unalienable rights" with which the Creator endowed man.
"Freedom", he summed up at one time, "is the gift of Nature."
What did Jefferson mean by freedom and why was it necessary for him to
claim it as an "inherent" or "natural" right In Jefferson thought there are two
main elements in the idea of freedom. There is, first, man’ s liberty to
organize his own political institutions and to select periodically the
individuals to run them. The other freedom is personal. Foremost in the area of
individual liberty, Jefferson believed, was the untrammeled right to say, think,
write, and believe whatever the citizen wishes -- provided, of course, he does
not directly injure his neighbors.
It is because political and
personal freedom are potentially in conflict that Jefferson, in order to make
both secure, felt the need to found them on "natural fight". If each liberty
derives from an "inherent" right, then neither could justly undermine the other.
Experience of the past, when governments, were neither too strong for the ruled
or too weak to rule them, convinced Jefferson of the desirability of
establishing a delicate natural balance between political power and personal
rights.
This brings us to the third basic element in the
Jeffersonian idea: the people’ s control over government. It is paradoxical that
Jefferson, who spent most of his adult years in politics, had an ingrained
distrust of government as such. For the then-existing governments of Europe,
virtually all of them hereditary monarchies, he had antipathy mixed with
contempt. His mistrust of strong and unchecked government was inveterate. "I am
not," he said, "a friend to a very energetic government. It is always
oppressive."
Government being a necessity for civilized
existence; the question was how it could be prevented from following its
tendency to swallow the rights of the people. Jefferson’ s answer to this
ancient dilemma was at variance with much traditional thinking. He began with
the postulate that government existed for the people, and not vice versa; that
it had no independent being except as an instrument of the people; and that it
had no legitimate justifications for existence except to serve the
people.
From this it followed, in Jefferson’ s view that only
the people, and not their rulers or the privileged classes, could and should be
relied upon as the "safe depositories" of political liberty. This key idea in
the Jeffersonian political universe rested on the monumental assumption that the
people at large had the wisdom, the capability, and the knowledge exclusively to
carry the burden of political power and responsibility. The assumption was, of
course, widely challenged and vigorously denied in Jefferson’ s day, but he
always asserted his confidence init.
Confidence in the people,
however, was not enough, by itself, to serve as a safeguard against the
potential dangers inherent in political power. The people might become corrupted
or demoralized or indifferent. Jefferson believed that the best practice for the
avoidance of tyranny and the preservation of freedom was to follow two main
policies. One was designed to limit power, and the other to control
power.
In order to put limits on power, Jefferson felt, it was
best to divide it by scattering its functions among as many entities as possible
-- among states, countries, and municipalities. In order to keep it in check, it
was to be impartially balanced among legislative, executive, and judicial
branches. Thus, no group, agency, or entity would be able legitimately to
acquire power for abuse. This is, of course, the theory that is embedded in the
Constitution and that underlies the American federal system with its "check and
balance".
For the control of power or, more specifically, the
governmental apparatus itself, other devices had to be brought into play. Of
these, two are of special importance: suffrage and elections.
Unlike many contemporaries, Jefferson believed in virtually universal
suffrage. His opinion was that the universal right to vote was the only
"rational and peaceable instrument" of free government.
Next to
the right to vote, the system of free elections was the foremost instrument for
control over government. This involved, first, the election by the people of
practically all high government officials, and, secondly, fixed and regular
periods of polling, established by law.
To make doubly sure that
this mechanism would work as an effective control over power, Jefferson
advocated frequent elections and short terms of office, so that the citizens
would be enabled to express their "approbation or rejection" as soon as
possible.
This, in substance, is the Jeffersonian
philosophy--faith in the idea of equality, of freedom, and in the right to and
need for popular control over government.
What, in all this, is
relevant to peoples without a democratic tradition, especially those who have
recently emerged in Asia and Africa The rejection of democratic procedures by
some of these peoples has been disheartening to believers in freedom and
democracy. But it is noteworthy that democratic and parliamentary government has
been displaced in areas where the people had no background in freedom or
self-rule, and where illiteracy is generally high. Even there it is significant
that the new dictatorships are usually proclaimed in the name of the
people.
The Jeffersonian assumption that men crave equality and
freedom has not been denied by events. Special conditions and traditions may
explain non-democratic political methods for the achievement of certain
purposes, but these remain unstable wherever the notion of liberty has begun to
gain ground. "The disease of liberty", Jefferson said, "is catching."
The proof of this is to be found even in such societies as the Spanish and
the Islamic, with their ancient traditions of chieftainships where popular
eruptions against dictatorial rule have had an almost tidal constancy.
But it is a slow process, as Jefferson well knew, "The ground of liberty",
he said, "is to be gained by inches; we must be contented to secure what we can
get, from time to time, and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It
takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
Does Jefferson survive Indeed he does.
Which of the following statements would the writer probably Not support
A．The rejection of democratic procedures is partly attributed to ignorance.
B．Jefferson’ s ideas of democracy are often distorted by some people on purpose.
C．Universal suffrage is the cardinal instrument for control over government.
D．Once the concept of liberty is accepted by the majority, a democratic society will be strongly demanded.
