Central government

“ A strong central government does not necessarily mean anything approaching a monarchy. But it does mean a republic which will have the support of all its citizens as a central support, instead of each State comprising the Union reserving to itself the right to differ from the central power. ”

“ Therefore first of all, we must get a government which will be autonomous in so far as it will be government by the people and for the people. The different provincial governments are to be connected together by some sort of central government and then again that central government is to be connected up with the different parts of this vast empire. That is the sort of Government for which the time has come for which to make a definite scheme. ”

“ The plain tendency is towards a centralization of all the greater powers of government in the hands of the federal authorities, and towards the practical confirmation of those prerogatives of supreme overlordship which Congress has been gradually arrogating to itself. The central government is constantly becoming stronger and more active, and Congress is establishing itself as the one sovereign authority in that government. ”

“ To decide for what public objects local superintendence is best suited, and what are those which should be kept immediately under the central government, or under a mixed system of local management and central superintendence, is a question not of political economy, but of administration. ”

“ Hence a federal government can hardly render service to the nation by undertaking for the national benefit functions which may be performed by individuals.”49 Wherever in the history of the world we find a federation having an internal organization sufficiently strong to maintain its own existence, we observe an inevitable drift of power from the several states to the central government, striving to ascertain over how broad a [Pg 146] field it is expedient and right to extend the activities of government. ”

“ Whether a given function should or should not be exercised by the central government in a Federal system is from the point of view of political logic a matter of expediency—with the burden of proof resting on those who propose to alter any existing Constitutional arrangement. ”

“ It may be affirmed, consequently, without paradox, that among those branches of the American national organization which are greatly in need of nationalizing is the central government. Almost every member of the American political body has been at one time or another or in one way or another perverted to the service of special interests. ”

“ The contact of the central government with the mass of the men of the state was broken off by the intervening series of lords who were political rulers each of the territory or group of lands immediately subject to himself, and exercised within those limits the functions which the general government should normally exercise for the whole state. ”

“ Within the central government, if it is to remain democratic, a clear division of authority should be established between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. Strong restrictions should be included on activities of the police, intelligence services, and military forces to prohibit any legal political interference. ”

“ The most favorable concurrence of circumstances under which this step in improvement could be made would be one which should raise up representative institutions without representative government; a representative body or bodies, drawn from the localities, making itself the auxiliary and instrument of the central power, but seldom attempting to thwart or control it. ”

“ The people declare their will that such and such individuals shall be clothed with, and represent their united power, and act for them in this representative capacity. The persons thus chosen, and who constitute the government or central head, with its subordinate agencies, declare from this central position of authority with which they have been invested by the people, that such and such things are necessary for the welfare and orderly activity of the people, and in the name, and with the coöperation of the people, they will to carry these measures out. ”

“ Some may think that, however much the central authority surpasses the local in knowledge of the principles of administration, the great object which has been so much insisted on, the social and political education of the citizens, requires that they should be left to manage these matters by their own, however imperfect lights. To this it might be answered that the education of the citizens is not the only thing to be considered; government and administration do not exist for that alone, great as its importance is. ”

“ By whom will those liberties be destroyed? This central power, styled the Federal Government, is formed by the people, is of the people, is for the people, and has only such power as the people gave it ”

“ I am not aware that history furnishes any example in which a number of these political atoms or corpuscles have coalesced into a body, and learned to feel themselves one people, except through previous subjection to a central authority common to all. [2] It is through the habit of deferring to that authority, entering into its plans and subserving its purposes, that a people such as we have supposed receive into their minds the conception of large interests common to a considerable geographical extent. ”

“ In such a government, the majority of the people would, at any time, have the right to elect new officers, as provided for, so that the strong central power would not be in the individuals administering the government, but in the organic law which constitutes the several parts of the country a common government, which, while being the strongest possible governmental form, it would, at the same time guarantee the greatest possible freedom, equality and justice to its people which would be compatible with the common interests and the common good. ”

“ On the contrary, many a people has gradually emerged from this condition by the aid of a central authority, whose position has made it the rival, and has ended by making it the master, of the local despots, and which, above all, has been single. ”

“ All executive or legislative measures would come within the province of the central power; the only condition being that they should first be submitted to free discussion, whether by journals, public meetings, or individual thinkers, though such discussion should not bind the government legally. The progressive character of the government thus guaranteed, we have next to see that the men who compose it shall be such as are likely to carry out the provisional and purely practical purpose with which it is instituted. ”

“ The authority which is most conversant with principles should be supreme over principles, while that which is most competent in details should have the details left to it. The principal business of the central authority should be to give instruction, of the local authority to apply it. Power may be localized, but knowledge, to be most useful, must be centralized ”

“ Although the commissions of the people's councils are thus theoretically charged with the implementation of a wide range of local administration, many of their functions, especially in the areas of economic and social policy and in the administration of public order, have been exercised jointly with, i.e., essentially under the control of, the local representatives of other central government agencies such as the trade unions and the police apparatus. ”

“ The Danish Government is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy that scrupulously respects the citizen's personal rights and liberties. The Kingdom of Denmark is in fact governed by a Prime Minister and his Cabinet, who are responsible to a unicameral parliament, the Folketing. ”

“ High taxes and inflation have plagued the Palme government, but thus far it has avoided a crisis by accepting the support of the Communist Party, in order to muster a majority over the bourgeois opposition.
Like its neighbors, with whom, in the Nordic Council, it has totally integrated its social policy. Sweden is committed to creating a social democracy in order to redistribute the national wealth and achieve social and economic security for all its citizens. An all pervasive welfare system has virtually eliminated individual privation. ”

“ The dominance of the Social Democratic Party from the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s provided direction and continuity for Danish efforts in the domestic realm, and the bourgeois parties during the short breaks in Socialist power largely abstained from attempting to reverse what had been accomplished. Despite philosophical and practical differences, Danes of all political persuasions tend to agree that the government has an important role in guiding the domestic life of the nation, and that it should seek in some fashion to promote national growth and the general welfare of the people. ”

“ It appears to us, that a sovereign government promotes its power as well as the interests of its subjects, by confining the direct exercise of its legislative and administrative functions to matters of general and permanent concern ”

“ Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic, responsible, parliamentary system of centralized government, based on universal suffrage. Although the focus of power is in the unicameral legislative branch, the executive, i.e., the Council of State acting in the King's name, retains more authority than is usual in such systems. The judiciary is free and independent, but its authority is less important than that of the other branches, primarily because it lacks the right of judicial review of legislation. ”

“ The Riksdag is vested with the power to remove the government or an individual member of the Council of State immediately by a vote of no confidence. The only defensive move open to the government in such a case is to announce new elections within a week. The implementation of these reforms puts Sweden in step with the growing number of democracies in Western Europe which have embraced the idea of a directly elected unicameral legislature more responsive to the electorate. ”

“ There is general across-the-board agreement among the many parties that the government must on occasion intervene to control the economy - the only recent dissenter being the now defunct Independent Party of the far right, which advocated virtually an unadulterated laissez-faire system. ”

“ Defense As in the other democracies of Western Europe, the military establishment is clearly subordinate to the popularly elected civilian government. Although military officers frequently attempt to influence and mold public opinion on matters relating to defense, they have little direct influence in making national policy. Defense policy is formulated by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, who is appointed by the Minister of Defense, in coordination with the Joint Chiefs Committee, consisting of the commanders of the three armed services and the Chief of the Defense Staff. ”

“ Nevertheless, the government realizes the reality of economic dependence on the EC countries as markets for Swedish products and is prepared to negotiate a treaty providing for an industrial free-trade arrangement that would protect many economic interests of Sweden without requiring it to assume political obligations that would compromise its neutrality. The attitudes of party leaders and the rank and file toward the USSR do not differ markedly from other segments of Swedish society. ”

“ Regional and local governments to an increasing extent have become administrative arms of the national government. While the national government may legislate broad programs, however, only the local authorities have the intimate knowledge to apply those programs to local needs. In this regard the general European quest for specific local initiatives, seen notably in the student manifestations of the late 1960s, has had some impact on Danish legal prerogatives, as has the transition of Denmark from a principally agricultural to a principally industrial economy. ”

“ Recognizing that their taxes are the second highest in the free world, after those imposed on their Swedish cousins, the industrious Danes are prepared to go easy on further socialization and welfarism. The more dynamic entrepreneurs, whose imagination and skills produced Denmark's post-World War II economic miracle, not only opposed vigorously further taxation, but find the Social Democrats' "economic democracy" platform particularly unpalatable. Their influence on future policy, even that of a Social Democratic government, cannot be discounted. ”

“ The erection of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 enabled the government to establish firm control over the society and proceed with overdue economic reforms, which within a decade provided the population with the highest standard of living in Eastern Europe. By the early 1970s East Germany had become the world's ninth largest industrial power - second to the Soviet Union in the eastern bloc - with a concomitant growth in prestige which gave added strength to its demands for recognition as a sovereign state and a voice in international councils. ”

“ Is it the creature of the State legislatures, or the creature of the people? If the government of the United States be the agent of the State governments, then they may control it, provided they can agree in the manner of controlling it; if it be the agent of the people, then the people alone can control it, restrain it, modify, or reform it. ”

“ The National Front, in addition to representing the parties and mass organizations, purports to represent the population as a whole and functions as the vehicle for presenting candidates for office at all levels of government. ”

“ The administration of the state under the system of sovereign authority, the control of the senate, and the source of political power in the will of the nation itself, are made to work together and restrain one another so as fairly to keep the benefits and neutralize the excesses of all, while the constitution has within it the power of continual reform, so that the machine of government may be ever shaping itself into more perfect fitness to its work. ”