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ARMY
TALKS
Democracy in America
Restricted
ARMY TALKS is a classified official publication of the United States Army in the European
Theater of Operations. The material contained herein may not be quoted or republished, in
whole or in part, nor may it be communicated, directly or indirectly, to persons not authorized
to receive it, except by authority of the Commanding General, ETOUSA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Democracy in America .. .. .. 3
Illustration .. .. .. .. .. .. . . 8.9
Preparation .. .. 13.14
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
4 AKMY TALKS
10 November 1913 5
6 ;ARMY TALKS
political discussion such as the news- learned their trade on the farm or in
papers and radio, there is the final small shops are gone . Today it is
court of judgment which is the opinion important to learn something of science
of the people themselves . In general, and mathematics in order to be success-
Americans feel free to talk with their ful in a mechanical job . Even farming
friends about politics as well as about has a lot of book-learning attached to
baseball or anything else, and especially it, and for everyone it is an advantage
during a campaign people talk and to know as much as possible of the
argue, working out what they think and geography and history that are govern-
deciding how to vote. ing our lives.
The people do not have to decide all
Personal Freedom the little details of government, but
No one, of course, is absolutely free they do have to decide on the main
to do or say what he likes without outlines of policy that may lead to
consequences. A man can make friends prosperity or depression, and 20 years
or enemies by political talk, and most later perhaps to peace or war. The
people have to get along with other job of statesmen and political leaders
people . There are times when a man is to put the questions to the people so
may think best to keep quiet and just that they will know what they are
vote, and the errors in straw vote discussing and what they are voting
predictions sometimes show two or about in an election. But the people
three per cent who prudently talked can never afford to trust the Lord to
one way and then voted the other. give them always leaders who can make
the issues clear.
The amount of freedom is closely
connected with the amount of employ- The Need for Questions
ment ; a man who thinks he c Auld The people themselves must always
easily get another job feels pretty much be discussing and asking questions, and
at liberty to say what he pleases . This, the better educated the people are, the
in fact, is the main connection between better the chance of getting a clear
full employment, social security, and decision that represents their real
all the conditions of freedom from fear, desires . The more clearly the people
and the democratic process. know what they want, the more likely
The chief condition for free discus- they are to find political candidates
sion is not to have a Gestapo, but after who will make sense.
that everything that gives us the sense The foundations of free discussion,
of not being caught in a trap releases therefore, in a country that has no
our freedom to discuss and to operate Gestapo, are education and plenty of
a democratic form of government. jobs, with enough provision for old
age or accident so that most of the
Education and Opportunity citizens are not afraid of anything.
The school system has long been Most Americans believe that no one,
regarded as one of the foundations of unless he has committed a crime,
democracy, simply because knowing ought to have to live in constant fear.
how to read helps one to understand There is a proper place for argument
what is going on at a distance . We now about ways and means, because people
know that good schools are also the are not all agreed on how to prevent
principal means of giving everyone a unemployment, or even on the best
fair chance in life. way to provide insurance.
The old days when most Americans But most people are not ordinarily
10 November 1943 7
going to give their main attention to not encouraging, and now they have to
discussing the affairs of the nation, start over, after many of their most
which generally come up for a big intelligent democratic leaders have
argument only once in four years. been killed and try to build a demo-
Most of life is really made up of local cratic system that will work.
affairs. The story of Italy shows that the
Large numbers of Americans who people of a country can be wrong, and
take an interest in political questions can ruin themselves thoroughly. But
arp interested in town or county or it seems to be clear that so long as a
State governments . In addition, a country holds on to free speech and
vast amount of work that might be free elections, the people will find out
done by governments is actually done their own mistakes before it is too late,
by private organizations of all sorts. and will not suffer so much in the
People govern themselves in clubs, in long run.
churches, in labor union locals, and
Representative Government
lodges, as well as in school districts
and municipalities. Aside from the small organizations
All these organizations are part of the in which people actually govern
democratic way of life . In them we themselves, the methods of indirect
find leaders and followers, committees government are important. Large
and steam-rollers, deals and log-rolling, organizations, and especially the nation,
propaganda and argument, and all the must be governed indrectly,
i and the
elements of human nature in full cry. day-by-day work of government is
By belonging to such organizations, bound to be carried on by officials
millions of people learn how to get who make decisions on their own
along in democratic ways, they learn responsibility.
that nothing is ever perfect, but that The people cannot run the Army
many good and useful things can be and Navy, or even the Post Office.
worked out in practice. But the government is legally the
servant of the people . On election
The Wrong Way to Cure Corruption day, the party in power " points to
It is important that people should the record," meaning that it pleads
know by personal experience the way with its boss, the people, to let it keep
human nature behaves, so that they do the job. Between elections, sensible
not throw their liberties away in digust politicians naturally try to " keep
because of the faults of democracy, but their ear to the ground " ; that is,
instead go ahead with the job of making they try to get any complaints, and
it work. meet them either by changing their
It was Mussolini who said that policies or by argument . This is why
democracy was a rotting corpse. politicians watch the unofficial polls
Democracy in Italy was corrupt and of public opinion, and carefully analyze
ineffective enough to justify powerful the letters that come in from their
efforts for reform, but was it correct constituents.
to cure the disease by killing the
patient ? The Question Period in England
In disgust at the faults of their own There are also various official ways
democracy, the Italians threw away of keeping a National Government in
the right of free discussion and of free touch with its people. In England the
elections, and turned the whole show Parliament has a regular question
over to the Duce . The results were period, when the Prime Minister and
10 AIt Y- *T AL lhi S
other Cabinet Members have to answer from thinking they can do as they
for their various departments . The please without being held responsible.
Members of Parliament put their When Woodrow Wilson was
questions in advance, so that the President, he tried to introduce some
Cabinet can come prepared with of the features of parliamentary govern-
statistics or other facts, or can have a ment, as they are found in almost all
chance to report that a condition is democratic countries except the United
already corrected. States . He wanted the President and
Any citizen can write to his Member Cabinet to appear regularly before
of Parliament and complain that a Congress, to explain their work and
soldier was mistreated in the guard- answer questions. He was not able to
house, or that metal scrap is being get this system established because of
dumped for fill, or that he wants a being engaged in the war, but the
Second Front . If the Member thinks President now usually goes before
there is something in it he can bring Congress to read his messages instead
it up, and the Cabinet must answer. of sending them to be read as the
The Opposition members have the custom was before Wilson's time.
special job of hunting for questions to The President, and some other
embarrass the " Government," i .e ., high officials, have also established a
the Administration. Oftenthe questions custom of holding press conferences,
and answers are printed in the news- at which the newspaper men can ask
papers, and if the people are interested embarrassing questions . Sometimes
they• . may raise a storm, and even the answers are " off the record "—
force the Cabinet to resign, as happened confidential information given so that
after the European collapse in 1940. newspapers will not bark up the wrong
tree. Sometimes the President can be
The Investigation Committee
directly quoted, at other times the gist
In the United States we do not of what he said is attributed to " a
have a regular question period, though White House spokesman " or to
the heads of government agencies have " informed circles. "
to appear before appropriate committees There are necessarily some secrets
of Congress and answej whatever in Government, especially in wartime
questions the committee members may or when war is threatening, but even
ask . Congressmen and Senators often though the newspapers usually keep
make speeches criticizing the Adminis- secrets that are entrusted to them, no
tration, and if they are backed by public President could use this device to get
interest in the question, may force the away with actions that were intended;
Administration to answer. to hurt the public interest. The press
Probaby the most effective institution conference is therefore a real instrument
for holding the Government responsible of democratic control.
is the investigating committee . A
Senate, or House Committee, has Federal Government in America
power to call anyone before it, When the United States of America
whether he is a private citizen, a was first established, it was a sort of
soldier, or a civil official, and dig League of Nations, rather than a
out the facts about what is going Government. The Articles of
on. Its conclusions may be quite Confederation left to the thirteen
wrong, but they may be right, States the right to make their oiih
and, in any case, this system of tariff laws, print their own money, and'
examination keeps the public servants dicker with foreign countries . They
12 ARMY TALKS
that each generation makes such any country in the world, democratic
changes as it sees fit. or otherwise.
During the past 20 years, many Most Americans, even if they are
people, including Mussolini and Hitler, stationed in England, have no notion
have proclaimed that democracy was of the efficiency of British war produc-
on trial for its life. It is worth while tion, which is hidden away in secret
understanding in what ways this was factories in unexpected places. It is
correct. immense and still increasing.
According to Nazi theory, the best
and strongest must survive, and so, The Fairy Tale is Busted
they said, the efficient, youthful, vital We know in our own country how
dictatorships had to wipe out the we started with unpreparedness and
rotten, corrupt, and dying democracies. confusion, and then pulled ourselves
We do not admit that might makes together into a tremendous production
right, and we believe the little countries of ships and planes and guns . The
of Western Europe were better countries same thing has happened in Australia
than Germany, even though the and New Zealand.
Germans were able to overwhelm them The fairy tale of German and Italian
with tanks and planes. efficiency is busted. The Germans are
But the young Nazis believe might good engineers, but the British and
makes - right, and the Ufifted Nations Americans are better . The Germans
are teaching them that on that basis we are good organizers in the short run,
are right and they are wrong. but in the long run their campaigns
have failed, their government of cap-
Are Our Enemies More Efficient ? tured territory has fallen to pieces,
But even though might does not their theories of the use of air power
make right, there is some virtue in a have proved wrong, and their submarine
nation being able to meet danger and campaign came too late to win the war.
organize itself to live through the crisis. As the British Prime Minister told
Efficiency is worth something, and we us recently, Britain made plenty
know our democratic countries are of mistakes but God mercifully
slow-moving compared with a dictator- provided that the Nazis always
ship that can decide everything without made worse ones. That is merely
argument. a way of saying that democracy
Do you remember how Mussolini with all of its faults seems to get into
made the trains run on time ? There less fatal troubles than the fascist
was a real question, for a while, whether dictatorships . As an instrument fox
democratic countries could do a good getting what the people really want, our
enough job of managing their affairs system of free argument seems to be as
to be worth keeping . How have we effective as any.
come out ? We are passing the test of military
England took the brunt of it in 1940. survival, and have good hopes of meet-
England seemed to be hopelessly worn ing the test of reorganization after the
out, inefficient, unable to make up her fighting stops . The common American
mind, the dying heart of a dying belief, on which nearly all Americans
Empire . By 1942, with millions of her agree, is that even though we can never
men in the Armed Forces, and all the find perfect answers to all our problems,,
obstacles of being actually under fire, we can come as near as humanly possible
England was producing more war by continuing our familiar habit ' of
material pet-MO of population than free elections and free discussions.
10 N.veerber 1943 13
Preparation
Reasons for Topic : Any examination of the democratic way of life forces
even the most casual reader to demand of himself such questions as : In what
ways can democracy in the United States be improved ? Who is to blame
if we have poor government in the United States ? Should we in the U .S.
Army discuss the strength and weakness of our government ? These are
questions which should be asked, and more important still, should be answered.
They are the bulwarks of good discussion, and they are likewise the bastions
of good democracy . If they do not make men think, which is primary, and
later act, they become indicators of the perils in whick democracy may be at
present existing.
No topic could be selected at this time which needs less justification than
the subject of this issue . Whatever part, whether small or large, we as individuals
have taken in our democratic form of government, we can never know too
much about it, or give it too much thoughtful consideration . The author
has for a number of years made it his particular business to know about the
democracy and to write about it in a cogent, straightforward manner . Here,
in a steady but provocative style, he has enumerated the ideas which lay behind
the building of the American government, and the way they function in the
American electorate . He has indicated the foundation stones, he has examined
the edifice, and he has with equal candor pointed out the cracks and leaks
in the democratic form of government in the United States today.
14 ARWY TALKS
be read through rapidly and then studied in detail . Outlined notes are the
obvious method of correlating and assessing the points to be followed.
Divisions for Discussion : It may be that the discussion will get off
to a hard-hitting rapid start, that will disregard any attempted demarcations.
But the discussion leader will be wise to establish a number of points from
which to lead . The subject headings of the article offer advantageous periods,
and the leader will undoubtedly desire to add his own . An historical approach
may prove advisable . Some such periods as the following are suggested : How
was the democratic form of government established in the United States ?
Why has it been amended during the years since the writing of the Constitution ?
Has the Constitution proved a feasible and workable vehicle of government ?
Have the American people shouldered the responsibilities of their govern-
ment ? And have they felt free to criticize the government while doing so ?
Moreover, how does the American form of democracy compare with the British ?
Such periods, which are only suggestive, may tend to bring the discussion
of the group along a developing and extending line of thought.
Printed by Newnes & Pearson Printing Co., Ltd ., Exmoor Street, N . Kensington, London, W.to.
10 \avrmt►rr 1913 15
Q . : Has anyone lived in a locality where his vote was not secret ?
What effect did that have on your freedom to vote ?
The initial talk should be brief and provocative, and planned to draw out
the interest of the men . Discussion is intended for everyman's participation ;
it .should' be guided without being dominated.
Lectures, brains-trusts, and informal talk sessions on this and allied topics
can be organized, and become an important part of the complete program . It
is suggested that Special Service and Education Officers communicate with
the Regional Secretaries of the Central Advisory Council for Adult Education
in H .M . Forces.
It is further suggested that discussion leaders make constant use of Vol . I
No . 1 of ARMY TALKS, the Handbook for Discussion Leaders . Gradually
leaders will discover genuine satisfaction in conducting a discussion group.
It is an aim which demands the Kest efforts of everyone who attempts to
achieve it .
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