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p.28, Issue 115
115. Government officials should rely on their own judgment rather than unquestioningly carry out the will of the people whom they serve.
That the above proposition is even offered as a debatable point shows the nadir to which Americans’ understanding of their own political tradition has sunk. The U.S. Constitution was designed, in part, to shield elected officials from having to respond their constituencies’ every whim. Public opinion is that most volatile of mixes, taking on a different coloration with every breath of political wind. To deny officials the right to use their judgment is a guarantee of chaos and a subversion of the whole electoral apparatus of governance. Three considerations merit attention here.
There exists no “the will of the people.” There are a good many wills of a good many people, but rarely is there consensus. It is, moreover, far from self-evident that an official should simply serve majority opinion. The vast majority of Rome’s mob, for instance, would acclaim as Emperor whichever rival general promised them bread and circuses. Human nature has changed little in the interval. The majority is still swayed by naked self-interest. Rather than cave into the “tyranny of 51%,” one might equally well opt to carry out the will of the propertied classes – an expedient Alexander Hamilton openly argued for in the infancy of the United States. Or, standing this thinking on its head, one might instead choose as a matter of principle to work for “the advantage of the least advantaged” as John Rawls called for in his “A Theory of Justice.” The point is that there is no united will of the people, and that any attempt to strictly respond to the more vocal or demonstrative wishes leads to more demonstration and chaos.
An elected official enjoys access to the most complete and up-to-date information available. With the aid of a staff, such individuals have far more facts far more efficiently presented than even the best informed voters. It i
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