Politician

“ For the present,—I quote the eloquent words of a distinguished politician with whose wise and noble sentiments I cordially agree—"what we ought to do in a case of this kind is to send out a statesman of the first order of talent, patience, and truthfulness, irrespective of politics or prejudice. ”

“ The methods of the politician.—Hence it will be seen that, in the right sense, merchants, physicians, 42and ministers are all politicians in that they seek to expand the sphere of their activities. Like the politician they study the wants of the people in order to win a starting point for leadership. ”

“ In order to tell whether they will do a particular act, they must look about them, and ascertain what others will say of it. The politician must conform to the usages of his party, whatever they may be. He must think as they think, and act as they act, whether it be agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience or not. ”

“ The politician who once had to learn how to flatter Kings has now to learn how to fascinate, amuse, coax, humbug, frighten, or otherwise strike the fancy of the electorate; ”

“ They were the classes in which embryotic statesmen acquired the political alphabet, the ABC of political procedure, the manner of putting a motion, taking a vote, making a nomination, and the correct order of precedence governing the motions and amendments. There too, was acquired the first great requisite of a politician,—the art of saying non-committal things in a most convincing tone of voice, and of treating with much politeness those whom one held in secret abhorrence.
There were two offices, those of school trustee and pathmaster, and these two were equal in power and glory. ”

“ It is the astute politician, the manager who can gain preferment for himself and his favorites, the demagogue known to stand in with the powers at the White House and consulted on the bestowal of government plums, whom we set in high places and denominate great. ”

“ The practical politician, living only for immediate interests, and absorbed in the desire of devising the means of satisfying them, might find much in a survey of this nature that may serve his purpose. ”

“ A learned, thoughtful, and dispassionate advocacy of any public question, by a professional politician, would be a rara avis in national life. The inherent strength, reason, and justice of great public questions, are never considered {61} by these nimble gentlemen—in fact, perhaps they never were. ”

“ I would like to see all the politicians changed to statesmen, -- to men who long to make their country great and free, -- to men who care more for public good than private gain -- men who long to be of use. ”

“ They are placed in the hands of politicians and perfunctorily administered. Your disinterested services are lost sight of; the politicians smile at the manner in which you have toiled and they have reaped. ”

“ That is what I should like to see happen to about half of our professional politicians at home. Then the other half might understand that holding a public office is a very serious business, and is not merely meant to furnish them with a livelihood and with places for their wives’ relations. ”

“ When your politicians can come here in coats of a similar make, then they will have begun to solve the problems which they are so fond of talking about. Now, will you please to walk on the other side of the road? ”

“ I have drawn a viiinecessary line, and have drawn it between those with whom he stood in some important official relation, or who occupied important public positions, and those who belong in the category of politicians more or less prominent and active, with whom all very eminent public men have more or less to do ”

“ Politicians and officials who have a personal interest in the result, will devote their whole time and energy to the work. Others who are less active, still, directly or indirectly, take their share in the electioneering. ”

“ These are casual illustrations of the dislike very generally entertained by the so-called working party politicians for men eminent by character and ability and of signal fitness for the discharge of the real duties of high office. ”

“ Preferably they are elected or appointed because of their popularity or are the successful product of civil service examinations. At worst they are appointed as a return for favors or else because they are relatives or friends of successful politicians or their backers. ”

“ If we would leave parties to the politicians, and would vote not for the party, not even for men, but for the city, and the State, and the nation, we should rule parties, and cities, and States, and nation. ”

“ So, our honest politicians and our honorable corporation heads owe it to their reputations to bring their activities out into the open. ”

“ Thus these politicians proceed, whilst little notice is taken of their doctrines; but when they come to be examined upon the plain meaning of their words and the direct tendency of their doctrines, then equivocations and slippery constructions come into play. ”

“ Here is the leader of a great party engaged in a most important contest. The character of the government, the welfare of the greatest city of the republic, one of the greatest cities of the world, is at stake. But this is nothing to him. All he things of is not the interest of three and a half millions of people, not the prosperity and good name of one of the world's most important emporiums of commerce and industry—what he thinks of is simply the spoils of office—patronage. ”

“ Our government may be said to be the organized will of all the people. The people govern in this country, and the men and the means by which they govern all combined may be said to be the government. But do not ever forget this fact: the President is not a master, but a servant. The President, Senators, congressmen, and judges, in the Nation; the Governors, State Senators, and State Representatives in the States are only agents or servants of the people to carry out the people's will. ”

“ As your nomination and election marked a most hopeful revival in political morals, so may your administration, born of the noblest impulses of the American people, become a lasting example of good government, to serve as an instruction and encouragement to coming generations and to write your name into the annals of the Republic with imperishable honor. ”

“ The great game of the government was to sow, if not dissension, at least distrust, in the ranks of the national party,—to chill the ardor of patriotism, and, wherever possible, to excite different views, and different roads to success, amongst the popular leaders of the time. ”

“ In this land of ours, this America, the common citizen may criticize without restraint the policies of his Government or the aims of the chief executive. He may vote as his judgment or his conscience advises and not as a ruler dictates. ”

“ Then, too, the political world is well to the front. There are honest and unscrupulous Ministers of State, upright and venal deputies, enthusiastic and cautious candidates for power, together with social theoreticians of various schools. ”

“ The staunch principles of the man who is to direct the destinies of his country for the next four years are voiced in his declaration: “I intend to be the head of the nation, not the head of a party.” ”

“ Besides, you want not only to be elected, but, if elected, to do good service to the country and credit to yourself by your Administration. I think I am not entirely ignorant of politics. Let me make a prediction. No skill in nice balancing will save you from the necessity of choosing between two roads, one running in the reactionary tendencies and machine politics, and the other in the direction of intelligent, progressive and reformatory politics. ”

“ And now, at the close of this first century of growth, with the inspirations of its history in their hearts, our people have lately reviewed the condition of their nation, passed judgment upon the conduct and opinions of political parties, and have registered their will concerning the future administration of the Government. To interpret and to execute that will in accordance with the Constitution is the paramount duty of the Executive. ”

“ He has not only filled and adorned high offices in the nation, but he by his grand character, lofty aims and advanced views upon questions of public morality, gained the position of one of the foremost citizens of the republic. ”

“ It was maintained in an earlier essay that representative government is the best possible for that which is the essential office of a government—the maintenance of those social conditions under which every citizen can carry on securely and without hindrance the pursuits of life—and that it is the worst possible for other purposes. ”

“ By holding the representative responsible only to the people, and exempting him from all other influences, we elevate the character of the constituent and quicken his sense of responsibility to his country. ”

“ Such samples of the character which political questions have hitherto borne in this country are sufficient to remind all readers of our history of what have been the chief features of our politics, and may serve, without further elaboration, to illustrate the point I wish to emphasize. It is manifest how such a course of politics would affect statesmanship and political leadership. ”

“ When we shall have attained our object and have arrived at the place of our destination, we trust to see the whole of our countrymen assembled together, then by the public voice to proceed to the election and appointment of our chief rulers and the framing of proper laws, and in general to consider what is useful both for the country and the people. ”

“ In a democratic government all officials who have authority to decide questions of general policy—the President, senators, representatives, governors, assemblymen, mayors, councilors, and the like—ought to be chosen by popular vote. ”

“ In a system in which all offices are elective, and in which elections are frequent, politics becomes a profession for those who subordinate their private interests to it, and who find it of personal advantage ”

“ When legislators have the great affairs of state on their hands, the making of war and peace, the maintaining of armies, and the control of all those interests which connect one country with another, the mind gets to be enlarged, and with it the character and disposition of the man. ”

“ These are principally when the people, in order to advance in civilization, have some lesson to learn, some habit not yet acquired, to the acquisition of which representative government is likely to be an impediment. ”

“ Thus stands the case as regards present well-being—the good management of the affairs of the existing generation. If we now pass to the influence of the form of government upon character, we shall find the superiority of popular government over every other to be, if possible, still more decided and indisputable. ”

“ There is the other curious conceit that the spoils of office are necessary to hold political parties together, to create an interest in public affairs among the people and to give life and spirit to our political contests. ”

“ Every gentleman who has turned his thoughts to the subject of politics, and has considered the most eligible mode of republican government, agrees that the greatest difficulty arises from the executive—as to the time of his election, mode of his election, quantum of power, &c. ”

“ President that the thinking men of this country, men who have some concern for the future of coming generations as well as the temporary triumph of party should meet upon the common plane of the general good and dispose of this question fairly and humanely?... ”

“ Should you happen to be in company with a number of eminent Statesmen belonging to one Party (say, at a dinner, when they can't get away from you,) mind and point out in a loud voice what you conceive to have been the chief errors of policy which they committed in their last Ministry, and what would have been your line in their place. If they are smarting under recent defeat, and have just been turned out of Office, they will be sure to thank you heartily for your kind advice. ”

“ Reform is necessary, even more, in the higher grades of the public service. President, Vice-President, Judges, Senators, Representatives, Cabinet officers—these, and all others in authority—are the people’s servants. ”

“ Let us endeavor to comprehend in all its magnitude, and to feel in all its importance, the part assigned to us in the great drama of human affairs. We are placed at the head of the system of representative and popular governments. ”

“ But we should look twice before we should thus qualify a government in which the chief makes his will outweigh the wishes of the citizens, or a government in which the will of the citizens outweighs that of the chief. ”

“ I have never undertaken to use public office as personal patronage, or to claim the right to dictate to the President of the United States, or that the executive was not entirely free, upon such advice as he saw fit, or without advice, if he thought fit, in making his selection for public office. ”

“ Their mental portraiture is as different and as individual as the faces painted by Titian or Van Dyke or Holbein. But each brought to the service of the State what she most needed in each generation. The constructive statesman, the framer of the Constitution and statutes, the financier, the debater, the lawyer, the man of business, the diplomatist, the reformer, the orator, are all there, and all are there at their best. ”