THE PARTY SYSTEM
The political party is a voluntary association which seeks to enlist a
majority of voters under its banner and thereby gain control of the
government. As the means employed by the majority to make its will
effective, it is irreconcilably opposed to all restraints upon its
authority. Party government in this sense is the outcome of the efforts
of the masses to establish their complete and untrammeled control of the
state.
This is the reason why conservative statesmen of the eighteenth century
regarded the tendency towards party government as the greatest political
evil of the time. Far-sighted men saw clearly that its purpose was
revolutionary; that if accomplished, monarchy and aristocracy would be
shorn of all power; that the checks upon the masses would be swept away
and the popular element made supreme. This would lead inevitably to the
overthrow of the entire system of special privilege which centuries of
class rule had carefully built up and protected.
When our Constitution was framed responsible party government had not
been established in England. In theory the Constitution of Great
Britain recognized three coordinate powers, the King, the Lords, and the
Commons. But as a matter of fact the government of England was
predominantly aristocratic. The landed interests exerted a controlling
influence even in the House of Commons. The rapidly growing importance
of capital had not yet seriously impaired the constitutional authority
of the landlord class. Land had been until recently the only important
form of wealth; and the right to a voice in the management of the
government was still an incident of land ownership. Men as such were not
entitled to representation. The property-owning classes made the laws
and administered them, officered the army and navy, and controlled the
policy of the government in every direction.
"According to a table prepared about 1815, the House of Commons
contained 471 members who owed their seats to the goodwill and pleasure
of 144 Peers and 123 Commoners, 16 government nominees, and only 171
members elected by popular suffrages."[155]
As the real power behind the government was the aristocracy of wealth,
the English system, though nominally one of checks and balances, closely
resembled in its practical working an unlimited aristocracy.
The framers of our Constitution, as shown in previous chapters, took the
English government for their model and sought to establish the supremacy
of the well-to-do classes. Like the English conservatives of that time
they deplored the existence of political parties and consequently made
no provision for them in the system which they established. Indeed,
their chief purpose was to prevent the very thing which the responsible
political party aimed to establish, viz., majority rule.
"Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed union,"
wrote Madison in defense of the Constitution, "none deserves to be more
accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence
of faction....
"By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a
majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some
common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of
other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the
community....
" ... But the most common and durable source of factions has been the
various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those
who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.
Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like
discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a
mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests,
grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into
different classes actuated by different sentiments and views....
"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by
the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its
sinister views by a regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may
convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its
violence under the forms of the Constitution. When a majority is
included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other
hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the
public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good
and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same
time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then
the great object to which our inquiries are directed."[156]
The very existence of political parties would endanger the system which
they set up, since in their efforts to strengthen and perpetuate their
rule they would inevitably advocate extensions of the suffrage, and thus
in the end competition between parties for popular support would be
destructive of all those property qualifications for voting and holding
office which had up to that time excluded the propertyless classes from
any participation in public affairs. Hence Washington though a staunch
Federalist himself saw nothing inconsistent in trying to blend the
extremes of political opinion by giving both Hamilton and Jefferson a
place in his Cabinet.
In England the party by the Reform bill of 1832 accomplished its
purpose, broke through the barriers erected against it, divested the
Crown of all real authority, subordinated the House of Lords, and
established the undisputed rule of the majority in the House of Commons.
This accomplished, it was inevitable that the rivalry between political
parties should result in extensions of the suffrage until the House
should come to represent, as it does in practice to-day, the sentiment
of the English people.
The framers of the American Constitution, however, succeeded in erecting
barriers which democracy has found it more difficult to overcome. For
more than a century the constitutional bulwarks which they raised
against the rule of the numerical majority have obstructed and retarded
the progress of the democratic movement. The force of public sentiment
soon compelled, it is true, the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment, which
in effect recognized the existence of political parties and made
provision for the party candidate for President and Vice-President. At
most, however, it merely allowed the party to name the executive
without giving it any effective control over him after he was elected,
since in other respects the general plan of the Constitution remained
unchanged.
The political party, it is true, has come to play an important role
under our constitutional system; but its power and influence are of a
negative rather than a positive character. It professes, of course, to
stand for the principle of majority rule, but in practice it has become
an additional and one of the most potent checks on the majority.
To understand the peculiar features of the American party system one
must bear in mind the constitutional arrangements under which it has
developed. The party is simply a voluntary political association through
which the people seek to formulate the policy of the government, select
the officials who are to carry it out in the actual administration of
public affairs, and hold them to strict accountability for so doing.
Under any government which makes full provision for the political party,
as in the English system of to-day, the party has not only the power to
elect but the power to remove those who are entrusted with the execution
of its policies. Having this complete control of the government, it can
not escape responsibility for failure to carry out the promises by which
it secured a majority at the polls. This is the essential difference
between the English system on the one hand and the party under the
American constitutional system on the other. The one well knows that if
it carries the election it will be expected to make its promises good.
The other makes certain promises with the knowledge that after the
election is over it will probably have no power to carry them out.
It is this lack of power to shape the entire policy of the government
which, more than anything else, has given form and character to the
party system of the United States. To the extent that the Constitution
has deprived the majority of the power to mold the policy of the
government through voluntary political associations, it has defeated the
main purpose for which the party should exist.
The fact that under the American form of government the party can not be
held accountable for failure to carry out its ante-election pledges has
had the natural and inevitable result. When, as in England, the party
which carries the election obtains complete and undisputed control of
the government, the sense of responsibility is ever present in those who
direct it. If in the event of its success it is certain to be called
upon to carry out its promises, it can not afford for the sake of
obtaining votes to make promises which it has no intention of keeping.
But when the party, even though successful at the polls may lack the
power to enforce its policy, it can not be controlled by a sense of
direct responsibility to the people. Promises may be recklessly and
extravagantly made merely for the sake of getting votes. The party
platform from the point of view of the party managers ceases to be a
serious declaration of political principles. It comes to be regarded as
a means of winning elections rather than a statement of what the party
is obligated to accomplish.
The influence thus exerted by the Constitution upon our party system,
though generally overlooked by students and critics of American
politics, has had profound and far-reaching results. That the conduct of
individuals is determined largely by the conditions under which they
live is as well established as any axiom of political science. This must
be borne in mind if we would fully understand the prevailing apathy--the
seeming indifference to corruption and ring rule which has so long
characterized a large class of intelligent and well-meaning American
citizens. To ascribe the evils of our party system to their lack of
interest in public questions and their selfish disregard of civic
duties, is to ignore an important phase of the problem--the influence of
the system itself. In the long run an active general interest can be
maintained only in those institutions from which the people derive some
real or fancied benefit. This benefit in the case of the political party
can come about only through the control which it enables those who
compose it to exercise over the government. And where, as under the
American system, control of the party does not ensure control of the
government, the chief motive for an alert and unflagging interest in
political questions is lacking. If the majority can not make an
effective use of the party system for the attainment of political ends,
they can not be expected to maintain an active interest in party
affairs.
But although our constitutional arrangements are such as to deprive the
people of effective control over the party, it has offices at its
disposal and sufficient power to grant or revoke legislative favors to
make control of its organization a matter of supreme importance to
office seekers and various corporate interests. Thus while the system
discourages an unselfish and public-spirited interest in party politics,
it does appeal directly to those interests which wish to use the party
for purely selfish ends. Hence the ascendency of the professional
politician who, claiming to represent the masses, really owes his
preferment to those who subsidize the party machine.
The misrepresentative character of the American political party seems to
be generally recognized by those who have investigated the subject. It
is only when we look for an explanation of this fact that there is much
difference of opinion. The chief difficulty encountered by those who
have given attention to this problem has been the point of view from
which they have approached it. The unwarranted assumption almost
universally made that the principle of majority rule is fundamental in
our scheme of government has been a serious obstacle to any adequate
investigation of the question. Blind to the most patent defects of the
Constitution, they have ignored entirely its influence upon the
development and character of the political party. Taking it for granted
that our general scheme of government was especially designed to
facilitate the rule of the majority, they have found it difficult to
account for the failure of the majority to control the party machine.
Why is it that under a system which recognizes the right and makes it
the duty of the majority to control the policy of the government, that
control has in practice passed into the hands of a small minority who
exercise it often in utter disregard of and even in direct opposition to
the wishes and interests of the majority? On the assumption that we have
a Constitution favorable in the highest degree to democracy, how are we
to explain the absence of popular control over the party itself?
Ignoring the obstacles which the Constitution has placed in the way of
majority rule, American political writers have almost invariably sought
to lay the blame for corruption and machine methods upon the people.
They would have us believe that if such evils are more pronounced here
than elsewhere it is because in this country the masses control the
government.
If the assumption thus made concerning the nature of our political
system were true, we would be forced to accept one of two conclusions:
either that popular government inevitably results in the despotism of a
corrupt and selfish oligarchy, or if such is not a necessary
consequence, then at any rate the standard of citizenship in this
country intellectually and morally is not high enough to make democracy
practicable. That the ignorance, selfishness and incapacity of the
people are the real source of the evils mentioned is diligently
inculcated by all those who wish to discredit the theory of popular
government. No one knows better than the machine politician and his
allies in the great corporate industries of the country how little
control the people generally do or can exercise over the party under our
present political arrangements. To disclose this fact to the people
generally, however, might arouse a popular movement of such magnitude as
to sweep away the constitutional checks which are the source of their
power. But as this is the very thing which they wish to prevent, the
democratic character of the Constitution must be taken for granted; for
by so doing the people are made to assume the entire responsibility for
the evils which result from the practical operation of the system. And
since the alleged democratic character of our political arrangements is,
it is maintained, the real source of the evils complained of, the only
effective remedy would be the restriction of the power of the people.
This might take the form of additional constitutional checks which would
thereby diminish the influence of a general election upon the policy of
the government without disturbing the present basis of the suffrage; or
it might be accomplished by excluding from the suffrage those classes
deemed to be least fit to exercise that right. Either method would still
further diminish the influence of the majority, and instead of providing
a remedy for the evils of our system, would only intensify them, since
it would augment the power of the minority which is, as we have seen,
the main source from which they proceed.
A government which limits the power of the majority might promote the
general interests of society more effectually than one controlled by the
majority, if the checks were in the hands of a class of superior wisdom
and virtue. But in practice such a government, instead of being better
than those for whom it exists, is almost invariably worse. The complex
and confusing system of checks, with the consequent diffusion of power
and absence of direct and definite responsibility, is much better
adapted to the purposes of a self-seeking, corrupt minority than to the
ends of good government. The evils of such a system which are mainly
those of minority domination must be carefully distinguished from those
which result from majority control. The critics of American political
institutions have as a rule ignored the former or constitutional aspect
of our political evils, and have held majority rule accountable for much
that our system of checks has made the majority powerless to prevent.
The evils of our party system, having their roots in the lack of popular
control over the party machine, are thus largely a consequence of the
checks on the power of the majority contained in the Constitution
itself. In other words, they are the outcome, not of too much, but of
too little democracy.
The advocates of political reform have directed their attention mainly
to the party machine. They have assumed that control of the party
organization by the people would give them control of the government. If
this view were correct, the evils which exist could be attributed only
to the ignorance, want of public spirit and lack of capacity for
effective political co-operation on the part of the people. But as a
matter of fact this method of dealing with the problem is open to the
objection that it mistakes the effect for the cause. It should be
clearly seen that a system of constitutional checks, which hedges about
the power of the majority on every side, is incompatible with majority
rule; and that even if the majority controlled the party organization,
it could control the policy of the government only by breaking down and
sweeping away the barriers which the Constitution has erected against
it. It follows that all attempts to establish the majority in power by
merely reforming the party must be futile.
Under any political system which recognizes the right of the majority to
rule, responsibility of the government to the people is the end and aim
of all that the party stands for. Party platforms and popular elections
are not ends in themselves, but only means by which the people seek to
make the government responsive to public opinion. Any arrangement of
constitutional checks, then, which defeats popular control, strikes down
what is most vital and fundamental in party government. And since the
party under our system can not enforce public opinion, it is but natural
that the people should lose interest in party affairs. This furnishes an
explanation of much that is peculiar to the American party system. It
accounts for that seeming indifference and inactivity on the part of the
people generally, which have allowed a small selfish minority to seize
the party machinery and use it for private ends.
The party, though claiming to represent the people, is not in reality a
popular organ. Its chief object has come to be the perpetuation of
minority control, which makes possible the protection and advancement of
those powerful private interests to whose co-operation and support the
party boss is indebted for his continuance in power.[157] To accomplish
these ends it is necessary to give the party an internal organization
adapted to its real, though not avowed, purpose. The people must not be
allowed to use the party as a means of giving clear and definite
expression to public opinion concerning the questions wherein the
interests of the general public are opposed to the various private
interests which support the party machine. For a strong popular
sentiment well organized and unequivocally expressed could not be
lightly disregarded, even though without constitutional authority to
enforce its decrees. To ensure successful minority rule that minority
must control those agencies to which the people in all free countries
are accustomed to look for an authoritative expression of the public
will. The party machine can not serve the purpose of those interests
which give it financial support and at the same time allow the people to
nominate its candidates and formulate its political creed. Nevertheless,
the semblance of popular control must be preserved. The outward
appearance of the party organization, the external forms which catch the
popular eye, must not reveal too clearly the secret methods and
cunningly devised arrangements by which an effective minority control is
maintained over the nomination of candidates and the framing of party
platforms. The test of fitness for office is not fidelity to the rank
and file of the people who vote the party ticket, but subserviency to
those interests which dominate the party machine. The choice of
candidates is largely made in the secret councils of the ruling minority
and the party conventions under color of making a popular choice of
candidates merely ratify the minority choice already made. Popular
elections under such a system do not necessarily mean that the people
have any real power of selecting public officials. They merely have the
privilege of voting for one or the other of two lists of candidates
neither of which may be in any true sense representative of the people
or their interests.
But in nothing is the lack of popular control over the party more
clearly seen than in the party platforms. These are supposed to provide
a medium for the expression of public opinion upon the important
questions with which the government has to deal. Under a political
system which recognized the right of the majority to rule, a party
platform would be constructed with a view to ascertaining the sense of
that majority. Does the platform of the American political party serve
this purpose? Does it seek to crystallize and secure a definite
expression of public opinion at the polls, or is it so constructed as to
prevent it? This question can best be answered by an examination of our
party platforms.
The Constitution, as we have seen, was a reaction against and a
repudiation of the theory of government expressed in the Declaration of
Independence, although this fact was persistently denied by those who
framed it and urged its adoption. The high regard in which popular
government was held by the masses did not permit any open and avowed
attempt to discredit it. The democracy of the people, however, was a
matter of faith rather than knowledge, a mere belief in the right of the
masses to rule rather than an intelligent appreciation of the political
agencies and constitutional forms through which the ends of popular
government were to be attained. Unless this is borne in mind, it is
impossible to understand how the Constitution, which was regarded at
first with distrust, soon came to be reverenced by the people generally
as the very embodiment of democratic doctrines. In order to bring about
this change in the attitude of the people, the Constitution was
represented by those who sought to advance it in popular esteem as the
embodiment of those principles of popular government to which the
Declaration of Independence gave expression. The diligence with which
this view of the Constitution was inculcated by those who were in a
position to aid in molding public opinion soon secured for it universal
acceptance. Even the political parties which professed to stand for
majority rule and which should therefore have sought to enlighten the
people have not only not exposed but actually aided in perpetuating
this delusion.
In the Democratic platform of 1840 we find the following:
"Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the
Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which
makes ours a land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every
nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith."
This was reaffirmed in the Democratic platforms of 1844, 1848, 1852, and
1856.
Finding its advocacy of the Declaration of Independence somewhat
embarrassing in view of its attitude on the slavery question, the
Democratic party omitted from its platform all reference to that
document until 1884, when it ventured to reaffirm its faith in the
liberal principles which it embodied. Again, in its platform of 1900, it
referred to the Declaration of Independence as "the spirit of our
government" and the Constitution as its "form and letter."
In the Republican platform of 1856 we read "That the maintenance of the
principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied
in the Federal Constitution is essential to the preservation of our
republican institutions." This was repeated in the Republican platform
of 1860, and the principles of the Declaration of Independence alleged
to be embodied in the Constitution were specified, viz., "That all men
are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
The authority of the Declaration of Independence was recognized by the
Republican party in its platform of 1868, and again in its platform of
1876.[158]
Both parties have during recent years expressed their disapproval of
monopolies and trusts, though neither when in power has shown any
disposition to enact radical anti-monopoly legislation.
The Democratic party which favored "honest money" in 1880 and 1884 and
demanded the repeal of the Sherman Act in 1892 stood for free coinage of
silver at 16 to 1 in 1896 and 1900. The Republican party which advocated
international bimetallism in 1884, condemned the Democratic party in
1888 for trying to demonetize silver and endorsed bimetallism in 1892,
favored "sound money" and international bimetallism in 1896 and renewed
its "allegiance to the principle of the gold standard" in 1900.
The Republican platform of 1860 branded "the recent reopening of the
African slave trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by
perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity." The
Democratic party in its platform of 1896 expressed its disapproval of
the Income Tax decision of the United States Supreme Court and in both
1896 and 1900 condemned "government by injunction." With these
exceptions neither party has ever expressed its disapproval of any
exercise of authority by the Federal judiciary.
Neither of the great parties has ever taken a stand in favor of an
income tax, government ownership of the railroads or the telegraph, or,
if we except the declaration in favor of direct election of United
States senators in the Democratic platforms of 1900 and 1904, advocated
any important change in our system of government.
Let us now inquire how far the results of a general election can be
regarded as an expression of public opinion upon the questions raised in
the party platforms. Does a popular majority for a party mean that the
majority approve of the policies for which that party professes to
stand? It is generally assumed by the unthinking that this is the case.
But such a conclusion by no means follows. If there were but one
question at issue between the parties and every vote was for principle,
not for particular candidates, the policy of the successful party would
have the approval of the majority. But when the party defines its
position on a number of issues this is no longer true. Take, for
instance, the Democratic and Republican platforms of 1900, the former
containing twenty-five and the latter twenty-nine separate articles in
its party creed. Does a majority vote for a party indicate that the
majority approve of the entire platform of that party? No thoughtful
person would maintain for a moment that all who support a party approve
of its entire platform. In the case of the Republican party in 1900, one
large class of its supporters who believed the money question to be
paramount and who feared the consequences of free coinage of silver
voted the Republican ticket, though opposed to the attitude of that
party on expansion and also on protection. The ardent protectionist may
have given the party his support on the strength of its tariff plank
alone. He may even have been opposed to the party's position on the
silver question and on expansion. Another class who may have disapproved
of both gold monometallism and protection, but who regarded expansion as
the all-important question, supported the Republican party because of
its attitude in this matter. It is certain that some who voted the
Republican ticket did not approve its expansion policy; some did not
approve of its extreme protectionist policy; and some did not approve of
its attitude on the money question. Every man who voted the Republican
ticket is assumed to have endorsed the entire policy of the party,
though, as a matter of fact, the party may have secured his vote by
reason of its position on the one question which he deemed to be of
supreme importance. It is, to say the least, extremely probable that
every intelligent man who supported the party disapproved of its
attitude on one or more questions. Each plank in the platform was put
there for the purpose of catching votes. Some gave their vote for one
reason, some for another and some for still other reasons. And when, as
in our present day party platforms, many separate and distinct bids are
made for votes, it is not only possible but highly probable that no
single plank in that party's creed was approved by all who voted the
party ticket. If the various issues could be segregated and each voted
upon separately, it is conceivable that not one of them would command a
majority of the entire vote; and yet, by lumping them all together and
skilfully pushing to the front and emphasizing each article of its creed
before the class or in the region where it would find most support, the
party may secure a popular majority for its platform as a whole. Both
parties in their platforms of 1900 stood for the admission as states of
Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma; both declared in favor of legislation
against monopolies and trusts; both favored liberal pensions, the
construction of an Isthmian canal, irrigation of arid lands, reduction
of war taxes and protection of American workmen against cheap foreign
labor. Yet it does not by any means follow that a majority of the people
voting really endorsed even these planks which were common to both
platforms.
Moreover the party does not always state its position in a clear and
unequivocal manner. The Democratic platform while opposing Republican
expansion did so with some important reservation. While denouncing the
recent expansion policy of the Republican party it made a bid for the
support of those who believed in a moderate and conservative expansion
policy. The same is true of its attitude on protection. It did not
condemn the principle of protection, but merely the abuse of the system
through which monopolies and trusts had been fostered. The vague and
ambiguous manner in which the party defines its attitude, together with
the highly composite character of its platform, largely defeats the end
for which it should be framed. As a means of arriving at a definite and
authoritative expression of public opinion concerning the political
questions of the day it is far from satisfactory. It is conceivable that
a party may under this system carry an election and yet not a single
principle for which it professes to stand would, if separately
submitted, command the approval of a majority of the voters.
The threefold purpose for which the party exists--(1) popular choice of
candidates, (2) a clear and definite expression of public opinion
concerning the questions with which the government must deal, and (3)
the responsibility of the government to the popular majority are all
largely defeated under the American system. The last named end of the
party is defeated by the Constitution itself, and this, as hereinbefore
shown, has operated to defeat the others as well.
We thus see that true party government is impossible under a
constitutional system which has as its chief end the limitation of the
power of the majority. Where the party which has carried the election is
powerless to enforce its policy, as is generally the case in this
country, there can be no responsible party government. The only branch
of our governmental system which responds readily to changes in public
opinion is the House of Representatives. But this is and was designed to
be a subordinate body, having a voice in shaping only a part of the
policy of the government, and even in this limited field being unable to
act except with the concurrence of the President, Senate and Supreme
Court. A change in public sentiment is not likely under these
circumstances to be followed by a corresponding change in the policy of
the state. Even when such change in sentiment is insistent and
long-continued, it may be unable to overcome the resistance of the more
conservative influences in the Constitution. The most superficial
examination of our political history is sufficient to show that the
practical working of our Constitution has in large measure defeated the
end of party government. Calhoun's contention that the party had
succeeded in breaking down the elaborate system of constitutional checks
on the numerical majority is not borne out by the facts.
Eleven general elections since the adoption of the Constitution have
resulted in a House of Representatives which had no political support in
any other branch of the government. During eighty-four years of our
history under the Constitution the party in the majority in the House
has not had a majority in all the other branches of the general
government, and consequently has not had the power to enforce its
policy. From 1874 to 1896--a period of twenty-two years--there were but
two years (the 51st Congress) during which the same party had a majority
in all branches of the government. But even during this brief period it
failed to control the treaty-making power since it lacked the two-thirds
majority in the Senate which the Constitution requires. In fact, there
has been no time since 1874 when any party had sufficient majority in
the Senate to give it an active control over the treaty-making power.
The more important and fundamental changes in public policy which
involve an exercise of the amending power are still more securely
placed beyond the reach of party control. Not only the power to ratify
amendments, but even the power to propose them, is effectually withheld
from the party, since it can scarcely ever command the required
two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress or a majority in both
branches of the legislature in two-thirds of the states.
Under our constitutional system a political party may have a nominal
majority in all branches of the government and yet lack the power to
enforce its policy. That branch of the government over which the party
has most control through frequent elections--viz., the House of
Representatives--is the one which has least authority, while those which
have most influence in shaping the policy of the government are less
directly subject to the penalties of party disapproval, as in the case
of the President and Senate, or entirely exempt from any effective party
control as in the case of the Supreme Court. The division of authority
under our Constitution makes it possible for either house of Congress to
give the appearance of support to a measure which public opinion demands
and at the same time really accomplish its defeat by simply not
providing the means essential to its enforcement. The opportunity thus
afforded for the exercise of a covert but effective veto on important
legislation is a fruitful source of corruption. The extreme diffusion
of power and responsibility is such as to make any effective party
control and responsibility impossible. This would be the case even if
the party were truly representative of public opinion. But when we
consider that the party is organized on a plan which in some measure at
least defeats both the popular choice of candidates and the expression
of public opinion in party platforms, it is readily seen that the slight
degree of party control permitted under our system is in no true sense a
popular control.