CHAPTER 4 REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT Chouni 66 rested with a single party.The situation is different elsewhere.In Great Britian, West Germany,Japan,and many other democracies,when the voters go to the polls,one party is almost certain to capture full control of legislative and Tve power,leaving no doubt that its policy agenda should p The roots of the American situation lie two centuries deep,in the framers' REPRESENTATIVE Histrust of popular majorities.The delegates to the Philadelphia convention 代a. built significant antimajoritarian devices into the Constitution.In the Framers' (宁是：要园艺作、 GOVERNMENT:PROVIDING judgment,the great risk of popular government was tyranny of the majority Inflamed by a personality or issue of the moment,the majority could become an 礼冷观) rrattonal mob with no regard for others.There would be times.James Madison POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY wrote in Federalist No.10,when "the]passions...,not the reason of the 3lell couplics public,would sit in judgment."Moreover,an unreasoning majority was hard to 可想至（人a明手） contain because it would arrogantly believe that its view should prevail over any view held by a minority of citizens.Yet the minority also had its rights and The people must be govemed bya mjority,resides.But how isthe interests,including property,personal freedom,and a fair chance to persuade 于有三化动加照 the majority of the merits of its viewpoint. efte fudi dewa sense of this majority to be obtuined? Fisher Ames (1788 The challenge for the Framers was to devise a goverment that allowed for majority rule but also protected minority interests and individual rights.No C人anaa form of self-government could eliminate the threat of majority tyranny,but the Framers believed that this danger would be greatly diminished by properly structured institutions.The United States would have not a democracy,but a 5w.) republic.Today the terms democracy and republic are used interchangeably to refer to a system of government in which ultimate political power rests with the people through their capacity to choose representatives in free and open elections.In 1787 however"democracy"and "republic"referred to quite different governing systems.When the people gathered in a large assembly to decide public issues directly,that was democratic govemment.When elected he Iran-Contra arms-trading scandal of 1986 had been public knowledge for about a month when the Reagan administration fought back on the officials met in representative institutions to decide poliey,that was republican, 兰使3a issue of Central American policy.President Ronald Reagan's communications or representative,government. The United States was much too large to be governed directly by the people director,Patrick Buchanan, accused congressional Democrats of exploiting the &scandal in order to achieve a cutoff of all assistance to the Nicaraguan rebels and through popular assemblies,so the Framers also had another distinction in hereby to undo a decision made by the American people two years earlier, mind when they called their plan republican rather than democratic in its form. In the Framers'conception of representative govemment,representatives were when they had resoundingly reelected Reagan.In Buchanan's view,Reagar landslide reelection victory proved that the American people desired a continu- placed at a considerable distance from the people.The public would elect directly only the members of the U.S.House of Representatives.U.S.senators, ation of Republican leadership and policies,including support for the Contras But was that really the case?After all,the Democrats had won a landslide of the president,and federal judges would be chosen by indirect forms of popular their own in 1984,gaining a 253-182 seat advantage in the House of election.The purpose was to make it dificult for a popular majority to gain and exploit the full power of government. Representatives. Americans are accustomed to thinking of their country as the most democratic Although the Framers maintained that these arrangements would result in a on earth.However,if democracy is defined by the directness with which an government that served the public's "rue interest,opponents of the Constitution charged that the people had been denied self-government.Offi- electoral majority leads to a governing majority,the American system is less cials would be free to pursue policies of their choosing,and even if they were demucratic than many others.As the 1984 campaign illustrates,U.S.electlons do not always produce a clear-cut governing majority.Since World War Il, committed to serving the public's interest,they would be so distant from the 40 control of the presidency and of one or both houses of Congress has been split people as to have no real understanding of their needs.For its critics,the Constitution was a blueprint not for popular sovereignty but for rule by the between the Republican and Democratic parties for more years than it has upper classes. e L.Graham.Jr. Chatham House,1984).19. Federalist No.10. 64