Science of government

“ To attempt to investigate what kind of government is suited to every known state of society would be to compose a treatise, not on representative government, but on political science at large. For our more limited purpose we borrow from political philosophy only its general principles. To determine the form of government most suited to any particular people, we must be able, among the defects and shortcomings which belong to that people, to distinguish those that are the immediate impediment to progress—to discover what it is which (as it were) stops the way. ”

“ There is nothing that, like such a study, charms and fructifies the imagination with impulses of active public spirit, warms the heart with a large sense of duty and noble ambition, and quickens the mind not only with valuable knowledge — for the history of governments contains the science of government — but also with a thirsty desire to advance from inquiry to inquiry and to add to the studied lessons of the past a clear understanding of the problems of the present. ”

“ By what ordinances would public prosperity, and all the virtues which not merely adorn that prosperity, but produce it, be most powerfully excited and maintained? This political department of our science, which is in truth only a subdivision, though a very important one, of general practical ethics, comprehends, of course, the inquiries as to the relative advantages of different forms of government, and the expediency of the various contrivances which legislative wisdom may have established, or may be supposed to establish, for the happiness and defence of nations. ”

“ Must not that teaching which can alone guide the citizen in the fulfilment of his public actions, be a teaching that acquaints him with the effects of his public actions?
The second chief safeguard to which we must trust is, then, the spread, not of that mere technical and miscellaneous knowledge which men are so eagerly propagating, but of political knowledge; or, to speak more accurately—knowledge of Social Science. Above all, the essential thing is the establishment of a true theory of government—a true conception of what legislation is for, and what are its proper limits. ”

“ All civil societies, and the whole science of civil government, on which they are founded, are yet in their infancy. Like other arts and sciences, this is gradually improving; but it improves more slowly, because opportunities for making experiments are fewer. ”

“ There may be a select class of savants who cultivate science with a view to its physical uses or for the pleasure of the pursuit. There will be a bureaucracy, and persons in training for the bureaucracy, who will be taught at least some empirical maxims of government and public administration. There may be, and often has been, a systematic organization of the best mental power in the country in some special direction (commonly military) to promote the grandeur of the despot. But the public at large remain without information and without interest on all greater matters of practice ”

“ He searches for the science, or the system, of inanimate bodies,—the system of organic bodies, the system of the human mind, and the system of the universe: why should he not also search for the system of society? But, having reached this height, he comprehends that political truth, or the science of politics, exists quite independently of the will of sovereigns, the opinion of majorities, and popular beliefs,—that kings, ministers, magistrates, and nations, as wills, have no connection with the science, and are worthy of no consideration. ”

“ In public affairs which call for a knowledge of science, he would know how to discriminate between the quack and the authority, and he would be quick to perceive in how many departments of government the liberal use of scientific methods is now imperatively demanded. ”

“ In the principles of government science has not, until very recently, found grounds of attack. Since it has come to be recognized that there really is a science of society, and consequently that all its structure can be analyzed, understood and guided by its deductions many of the customs and practices that have so long controlled the people are found to be entirely without the support of principles fundamentally necessary to assure a permanently constructive form of society. ”

“ Every proposal to extend the functions of government must be determined on its own merits and not upon the basis of its conformance to any rule.
Government as a science. The World a Great Laboratory for Experiments in 74Government.—Everywhere throughout the world the process of experiment in forms of government is going on, twenty-four hours a day, in ceaseless round. And it has been going on for more than two thousand years. Every experiment in political organization that the human mind can suggest has had, or is having, its trial somewhere. ”

“ Though ordinary information will become more widespread, the science of government as well as other sciences will continue year by year in the future as in the{438} past to become more complicated; and more and more as the years pass it will be found essential that the hands which operate the machinery of state shall be skilled to the very utmost. ”

“ and a primary object of such a national institution should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic what species of knowledge can be equally important and what duty more pressing on its legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country? ”

“ Individuals highly educated in the science of government and the art of governing, fitted [360] for a field exclusively their own, would promote an agreement upon the complex questions that now agitate and endanger the peace of society by keeping at fever heat party differences that are magnified by designing politicians. ”

“ A discussion of the relations between science and politics, however, covers a broader range than the preceding pages have indicated. That a rational government has need of science, is plain enough; but what return influence does science exert upon the governing power? In what way will the subtile spread of scientific conceptions and methods of thinking affect legislation and government generally? ”

“ The conclusions of this paper show that in empire-building citizens of a democracy have not hesitated to build according to the new theory of the state as set forth by the researches of political science, a theory that demands a government strongly and widely developed for the aims of social justice and collective effort. ”

“ And there is no cause so peculiar to political science, as a legal prohibition of discussion. Mind, as to this science, was fettered; as to others, free. The commencement of the American revolution, knocked off these fetters, political science bounded forward, and a government was formed, which is at this moment the solitary political object of universal commendation. Few prefer even the government under which they live, to ours ”

“ It would be well if we could separate those questions which must for the present be settled by party government from those which should be decided by expert knowledge, and if the latter could be settled by men having the necessary special training. And of course nearly all the executive work of the government should be done by experts, and a large part by those who are technically men of science. ”

“ We know that the further a nation advances in civilization, in science, and in general knowledge, the more intelligence, wisdom, and forethought, are required of those who hold the reins of government, and direct the management of institutions for the public good ”

“ Government as a science must make its improvement along the same practical lines which develop system, simplification, classification of kindred activities, and better administrative direction in the evolution of business. ”

“ Before long the passion for investigation passed beyond the limits of physical science, and ranging far afield, entered the domain of theology, of economics, of politics and social laws. In all fields alike there appeared the same disposition to repudiate opinions previously held, to examine afresh, under no restrictions, the principles which lay at the root of religion and government, the general laws which regulated human institutions, the origin of existing conceptions of society and property, of justice and right. ”

“ But there are equally sound reasons for keeping the government of a state or nation free from politics and conducting its affairs with such skill and efficiency as are attainable. There are certain questions that are quite outside the limits of such science as we now have, for example, the desirability of more or less centralization, paternalism, aristocracy, war or religion. ”

“ In advising the course of their reading, I endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness of man. So that coming to bear a share in the councils and government of their country, they will keep ever in view the sole objects of all legitimate government. ”

“ But they repose in a false security As civilization goes on and the laws of its progress are better understood, it will be found that science has more and more to do with government, and, therefore, with the methods and practices by which government is administered. ”

“ A bureaucracy is sure to think that its duty is to augment official power, official business, or official members, rather than to leave free the energies of mankind; it overdoes the quantity of government, as well as impairs its quality.
The truth is, that a skilled bureaucracy—a bureaucracy trained from early life to its special avocation—is, though it boasts of an appearance of science, quite inconsistent with the true principles of the art of business. ”

“ And among these obstacles attention is called to one which seems singularly enough to be itself a product of political progress: it is that a conception of a scientific politics may be expected to meet with most resistance under governments theoretically most liberal and advanced. We should certainly anticipate that where there is the greatest intelligence, and the form of government is most popular, there would be the greatest tendency to the study of political institutions from a scientific point of view ”

“ So that the modified forms of action produced in men by the presence of their fellows, and which are seen alike in the otherwise uncontrolled members of the lowest social groups and in the otherwise-controlled members of the highest social groups, constitute that comparatively vague control out of which other more definite controls are evolved—the primitive undifferentiated kind of government from which the political and religious governments are differentiated, and within which they ever continue immersed. ”

“ Naturally, the scientific work of the Government would receive more careful attention and be more judiciously fostered than it has been hitherto; its growth would be more symmetrical, and it would come more certainly under competent control. The legislation relating to coinage, weights, measures, etc., would become more intelligent, for the law-making power would be more directly familiar with the principles involved, and prejudices would have diminished influence. ”

“ The error arises from the learned jurists deceiving themselves and others, by asserting that government is not what it really is, one set of men banded together to oppress another set of men, but, as shown by science, is the representation of the citizens in their collective capacity. ”

“ Laws, the statement of which seems like a refinement of theory, determine the kind of legislation required on the most practical of subjects." On another hand, it is claimed by high authority that our country must have its own political economy. "The generalizations arising solely from the uniformity of human nature are so few that they can not constitute a science. ”

“ Others look primarily at the constitutional and administrative experiments which are being tried by the legislatures of different countries, and thus deal with their subject as a branch of political science. ”

“ Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it should be enlightened. ”

“ Antithesis.—The only object of the erection of a state government is to secure to each the full possession of his rights; and the state has only to discover and apply the means which will secure this object. ”

“ Regarding government as an institution for the public good, they demand a knowledge of its operations, and a participation in its exercise. A call for the representative system, wherever it is not enjoyed, and where there is already intelligence enough to estimate its value, is perseveringly made. ”

“ All legislation, all governmental measures and operations, originate in the chosen intellect of the people, assembled in free deliberation. No single will creates a law. Many cultivated thinking minds coming together in close discussion, strike out the great principles of political science. ”

“ From the founding of the Naval Observatory to the development of the most advanced electronics, the U.S. Navy has been a leader in developing devices and techniques designed to make the navigator’s job safer and easier.
The development of almost every device known to navigation science has been deeply influenced by Naval policy. Some systems are direct outgrowths of specific Naval needs; some are the result of technological improvements shared with other services and with commercial maritime industry. ”