Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

Electoral Reform. By D. Rees Williams. WE live in democratic times. Democracy has been defined by Professof Dicey in his work, Law and Opinion in Eng- land," as Not a state of society but a form of government; namely, a constitution under which sovereign power is possessed by the numerical majority of the male citizens." We can say, therefore, that our period is an ultra- democratic one, for not only is the majority made up of male citizens, but of female citizens as well. Indeed, in this respect we have proceeded further than the aims of the great schools of reformers of the last century, for the Benthamites or Philosophical Radicals, intended in practice, although perhaps not in theory, a middle class suffrage, whilst the suffrage the Chartists wished to secure was merely a manhood one. Democracy therefore exists in Great Britain in almost as complete a state as is possible, and, like most principles which are universally esteemed, it has one failing, similar to Caesar's wife it is above suspicion; a comfortable doctrine, perhaps, in the case of a lady, but an unsound one where legal and political principles are concerned; they at least should be subjected to constant examination and enquiry. Let us, therefore, examine for a moment just one phase of the Utopian state of affairs which democracy has presumably created. I refer to the electoral system. What do we find ? We find, first, that votes are being given to men and women in the narliamentary franchise merely on an age qualification. The people at large hold them very cheaply, and look upon them not as a serious privilege, which entails a corresponding duty, but as a natural right which can be exercised or not capriciously and at will; that, in fact, they regard votes like State educa- tion, as something which has been thrust upon them, and that the,, value those votes even less than they do their educational advantages. We find, secondly, that degenerates and criminals, weak-minded people and dissolute per- sons, vote as freely and with as great a voting weight as honest men and sober citizens. We find, thirdly, that catch-words are framed to win elections, and that parties go to the country with cries and slogans prepared specially for an ignorant and gullible section of the electorate, but that those cries and slogans, when the election is over, are heard of no more, nor are the scares from which they arose, unless they can be made useful at some subsequent general election. And as psychology teaches us that the intelligence and behaviour of a crowd is below the average intelligence and behaviour of the members of that crowd, we can readily understand the avidity and thoughtlessness with which these slogans are taken up. We find, fourthly, that honest men and women become disgusted with this mockery of elections, this travesty of representative government, and tend to leave voting and its consequences in the hands of men who have none of their unfortunate delicacy. Nor under existing conditions would the institution of compulsory voting be a remedy, it might indeed aggravate the evils of the present system. And we find, last, that politics from the reasons given above, have got into a bad odour. They are not, it is true, in such a condition as are those of some foreign States, but there is a time for all things, and if reserved but capable men are to continue in the dread of the ordeal which now attends a sensitive candidate for Parliament, then there may come a time when our elections, too, will be bought and sold. Politics have lost what sense of rational propor- tion they ever had, and with it their dignity. It is obvious, from all these reasons, that reform is both necessary and desirable. Few, if any, governments, however, would readily under- take it. They would be afraid of the capital their political enemies would make out of this most urgent reform. An attack on Democracy! How well this phrase would sound! And per- haps the most undemocratic party would make the greatest capital out of it of any. The reform to be instituted must not attack the basic underlying principle of democracy; qualified, that principle is sound; it is one to secure which men fought hard a century or so ago, and, furthermore, it is a doctrine most suitable to the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic tempera- ments with which our constitution has to deal. Without changing the nature of the principle we can still, in one way at least, so modify it as to conform to the true spirit of democracy, and yet wipe away, in a great measure, the dark stains which are at present only too apparent. The reform I would suggest is one where, as at present to a certain extent, men and women would be eligible for the franchise upon attaining the age of twenty-one years, but there would be an obligation added, namely, that before the votes were granted them they would have to show that thev were fit persons to exercise the same, and in the manner following: Commis- sioners would be appointed who would travel around the country, and once or twice a year they would visit each electoral division, three of their number hearing applications for voting privileges.* The applicants who desired a vote would have to satisfy the Commissioners on the following grounds: First, that he (or she, of course) was The dogma that every human being of full age has prima facie vested in him an innate ofr na*ura!l right to the full powers -of political citizenship has been amply /disproved by many writers and thinkers, notable by Burke, by Comte and by Bentham.