DISSIPATION OF POLITICAL IGNORANCE BY SELF-TAUGHT POLITICAL EDUCATION
If extra-legal unpopular government by politocrats rests upon a
condition of political ignorance on the part of the electorate, then
it will be said that the obvious cure is to dissipate that ignorance
by political education. It would not, however, be suggested that this
political education be compulsory and at the expense of the state by
competent teachers. That would irritate the electorate, be expensive,
and probably end in the establishment of a state-paid boss. No! The
political education of the voter must be self-taught. He must be
aroused to more knowledge and a more conscientious performance of
his political duties; more investigating of the qualifications of
candidates and greater efforts to secure the proper sort of candidates.
He must spend the time necessary to perform all his political duties
and to do so intelligently enough to make an individual choice as to
every candidate for every office at every election.
Many persons of intelligence will regard this as the only means of
successful assault and permanent overthrow of extra-legal and unpopular
government by politocrats. They are therefore content to sit still and
await the millennium of self-taught political education which will
enlighten the voter. The difficulty is that dissipation of political
ignorance by such means will never occur. Since political education
is not compulsory, we have to deal, not with the political knowledge
which the voter might conceivably obtain, but that which he actually
secures. The fact is the electorate is the sole judge of how much work
it will do in securing political knowledge and performing political
duties. On occasions it may be aroused to an exceptional activity; on
other occasions it may do nothing at all. Obviously then, in order to
obtain the highest percentage of intelligent voting on an average it
is necessary that the political duties of the electorate be adjusted
to the amount of self-taught and self-acquired political education
that the electorate will generally and in the long run secure. If the
political duties and education required are out of all proportion to
what the electorate will obtain for itself, then political ignorance
and neglect of political duties follows as a matter of course and is
a fixed and continuing condition. It is futile then to insist upon
the performance of duties which the electorate will not perform or
the attainment of a political education which the electorate will not
secure by its own efforts and which cannot be had in any other way.
The proper course is to readjust the political duties of the voter so
that what he is called upon to do he will accomplish with the minimum
amount of ignorance in view of the effort which he himself is likely to
develop to inform himself and make an intelligent choice.
When, therefore, we find an extra-legal unpopular government by
politocrats established by reason of the long-continued and increasing
political ignorance of the voters, who are on the whole an educated and
intelligent class of citizens, the necessary inference is that the
political duties of the voter and the requirements of self-obtained
political education have been placed far beyond his willingness to
perform, or perhaps even beyond the possibility of fulfilment by him.
To insist then upon self-taught political education which the voter has
not in the past and will not in the future and perhaps actually cannot
secure is to all practical intents and purposes to ignore utterly the
cause which makes the existence of extra-legal unpopular government
by politocrats permanent. It offers no means whatever for ridding
ourselves of such government.