An essay on the American contribution and the democratic idea — John Shaqi
An essay on the American contribution and the democratic ideaChurchill, Winston
Philosophy
An essay on the American contribution and the democratic idea
Churchill, Winston
Democracy; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
The above comments, based on the drift of political practice during
the past decade and a half, may be taken for what they are worth.
Predictions are precarious. The average American will be inclined to
regard the program of the new British Labour Party as the embodiment of
what he vaguely calls Socialism, and to him the very word is repugnant.
Although he may never have heard of Marx, it is the Marxian conception
that comes to his mind, and this implies coercion, a government that
constantly interferes with his personal liberty, that compels him
to tasks for which he has no relish. But your American, and your
Englishman, for that matter, is inherently an individualist he wants as
little government as is compatible with any government at all. And the
descendants of the continental Europeans who flock to our shores
are Anglo-Saxonized, also become by environment and education
individualists. The great importance of preserving this individualism,
this spirit in our citizens of self-reliance, this suspicion against too
much interference with personal liberty, must at once be admitted. And
any scheme for a social order that tends to eliminate and destroy it
should by Americans be summarily rejected.
The question of supreme interest to us, therefore, is whether the
social order implied in the British program is mainly in the nature of
a development of, or a break with, the Anglo-Saxon democratic tradition.
The program is derived from an English source. It is based on what is
known as modern social science, which has as its ultimate sanction the
nature of the human mind as revealed by psychology. A consideration of
the principles underlying this proposed social order may prove that it
is essentially--if perhaps paradoxically--individualistic, a logical
evolution of institutions which had their origin in the Magna Charta.
Our Declaration of Independence proclaimed that every citizen had the
right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” which means
the opportunity to achieve the greatest self-development and
self-realization. The theory is that each citizen shall find his place,
according to his gifts and abilities, and be satisfied therewith. We may
discover that this is precisely what social science, in an industrial
age, and by spiritualizing human effort, aims to achieve. We may find
that the appearance of such a program as that of the British Labour
Party, supported as it is by an imposing proportion of the population
of the United Kingdom, marks a further step, not only in the advance of
social science and democracy, but also of Christianity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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