Defining Democracy (1954)

[Music] Oh sign in many ways we would all agree that democracy includes government by a majority each of us sharpen up areas of democracy we know that democratic words and forms have been written into laws but it is a people practice democracies that really helps let's ask this man about different he is a specialist who studies communities and the way people live in them he goes about his job scientifically observing recording analyzing and reporting well I'll tell you one thing students of society have been reporting their observations and analyses for a good many centuries and as yet there is not one single definition of democracy that they would all except there's one point however they would all agree on and this is it in thinking seriously of democracy one must define his words carefully and use them consistently when you have your own definitions clear you know exactly what to look for in a community you can roughly locate any country in the world somewhere along a scale running all the way from democracy to despotism one community may be near the democracy end another somewhere in the middle and a third may be near the despotism and the question is what makes one community democratic is it the form of government well for one thing avoid the comfortable idea that the mere form of government can of itself safe Qaeda nation against despotism Germany under President Hindenburg who was a republic and yet in this republic an aggressive despotism took root and flourished under a Dolf Hitler when a competent observer which for signs of despotism in the community he looks beyond fine words and Noble traces it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all many observers have found the two workable yardsticks help in discovery how near a community is to despotism the respect scale and the power scale let's take respect first a careful observer can measure on the scale how many citizens get an even break in a community and the community moves away from democracy respect is restricted to fewer people a community is low on respect scale if common courtesy is withheld from large groups of people on account of their political attitudes if people are rude to others because they think their will gives them that right or because they don't like a man's race or his religion in a democracy respect must be shared sharing respect means that each shares the respect of all not because of his wealth or his religion or his color but because each is a human being and makes his own contribution to the community from helium six or managing its railroads to running its train one sign of shared respect in a community is that everybody is given a fair chance to develop useful skills and the chance to put these skills to effective use and there is shared respect in various groups in the community recognize each other's right to hold different faiths and opinion a power scale is another important yardstick of democracy it gauges the citizens share in making the community's decisions communities which concentrate decision-making in a few hands rate low on a policy and are moving away from democracy like France under the Bourbon King one of whom said the state I am the state today democracy can ever weigh in communities of citizens allow power to become concentrated in the hands of political boss because true democracy can flourish in a community only if there is shared power it is to say only if many people have a share in making decisions that the community will support with force if necessary more specifically you can say that power is shared wherever regular popular elections are authorized and are actually held there our shared power wherever people actually get out voluntarily and vote and if they vote without interference or pressure from anybody look beyond the legal formalities of an election in measuring a community on a power scale to see if the ballot is really free if the citizens can vote only the way they're told a community approaches despotism there is shared power if office holders are drawn from representative groups in society if they include men from the farms men from the law court men from the stores men from the factories in a democratic legislature shared power shows itself in a strong opposition listen and that is why I am confident the governor will have the support of the House on this bill mr. speaker as usual the Honorable gentleman is quite wrong he I am the governor he served so dutifully can expect no support for their policy from the south a strong opposition is made possible by an effective political party system when legislators become ceremonial assemblies only and have no real control over lawmaking their community slow and powerful in a downright despotism opposition is dangerous whether the despotism is official or whether it is unofficial the two most important signs of democracy then are shared respect and shared power they in turn depend upon certain conditions the spread of respect and power in a community is influenced by certain conditions which many observers measured by means of the economic distribution and information scales if a community's economic distribution becomes slanted its middle-income groups grow smaller and despotism stands a better chance to gain a foothold where land is privately owned one side of a poorly balanced economy is a concentration of land ownership in the hands of a very small number of people when farmers lose their farms they lose their independence this one can stay on but no longer as its own boss to the extent that this condition exists throughout a nation the likelihood of despotism is increased in past centuries economic balance was improved when large feudal estates were gradually reorganized into independent farms as one part of the development of democracy this creation of better economic balance aided the further growth of democracy it is also a sign of poor economic balance in a community if it depends almost entirely on a single company a factory or a mine if this condition exists over the nation as a whole so that the control of jobs and business opportunities is in a few hands despotism stands a better chance another sign of a poorly balanced economy is a taxation system that presses heaviest on those least able to pay a larger part of a small income is spent on necessities such as food sales taxes on such necessities hit the small income harder in the days of the salt tax futile despotisms were partly sustained by this and other forms of sales tax a relationship between economic balance and democracy has been noted and reported for centuries by students of society Aristotle said that a government made up of middle income people has the best chance to be democratic that was 2,000 years ago in Greece and well over a century ago in America James Madison warned that extremes of riches and poverty that group against group the social observers of our time have also noted that the development of democracy usually goes hand-in-hand with the growth of large middle-income groups in today's world of giant technology one of Democracies serious problems is how to maintain flourishing middle income groups economic distribution therefore is an essential condition of democracy another one is information a community rates low on an information scale when the press radio teaching in schools and other channels of enlightenment are controlled by only a few people and when citizens have to accept what they are told in communities of this kind democracy weakens see how such a community trains its teachers there little nine young people cannot be trusted to form their own opinion this business about open-mindedness is nonsense it's a waste of time trying to teach students to think for themselves our jobs to tell them and when teachers put such training into practice despotism grows rapidly these children are being taught to accept uncritically whatever they are told questions are not encouraged can you ask such a question have you got a textbook yes ma'am that they say here that our all courts are always just yes ma'am then how dare you create your effect and so we aren't surprised when but it must be true I saw it in this book right here and it books and newspapers and the radio are effectively controlled the people will read and accept exactly what the few and control want them to government censorship is one form of control a newspaper which breaks the government censorship rule can be suspended there for enlightenment is an important condition for democracy as public education increases democracy grows in checking a community for democracy we must find out whether it provides schools adjusted to the needs of its young people for just being able to get books and newspapers is no guarantee of democracy the newspapers of a real democracy meet these tests balance presentation of news disclosure of source competence of the staff in applying these tests to newspapers we find out first of all if they report both sides if the news pages contain news only and if opinion is kept for the editorial page next we see if the paper says plainly who publishes and edited so we know which side they're on newspapers in a real democracy meet a third Test competence of staff this test requires newspaperman to value accuracy and impartiality and to interpret the news skillfully for the public the competence test also requires newspaper men to use the services of experts I want 500 words on the freedom of the press for our anniversary edition how about it but professor you know more about the history of freedom of the press than probably any other man in the country yes that's right I mean the responsibility of a free press and other forms of communication like the radio in the movies to enlighten the people in the democracy as George Washington said in his farewell address in proportion as the structure of government gives force to public opinion it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened it is no less true today that enlightenment is an essential condition for democracy what sort of community do you live in where would you place it on a democracy despotism scale to find out whether citizens get an even break you can rate it on a respect scale and to find out whether they share in the making of decisions you rate it on a power scale if you want to know what way it is likely to go in the future rate it on scales or economic distribution and information the lower your community rates on economic balance and enlightenment the Lord is likely to rate on the respect and power scale to make sure that democracy is safe in your community first see whether you can find in it two distinct signs of democracy shared respect and shared power then turn your attention to two important conditions on which they depend economic balance and enlightenment there is no standing still the more economic balance and enlightenment the more shared respect and shared power democracy is something that's never finished if a community works to balance its economy and if it works to enlighten its citizens such a community can achieve shared respect and it can achieve shared power [Music] by working hard at it the citizens of any community can achieve democracy [Music]