San Andreas independent., 1857-08-29
Notice.
Evils of Party.

The Americans are o strangely anomalous
people They boast of their republican insti-
tutions of their right of suffrage of their poit-
ical independence; yet prove themselves the
worst of political slaves, and act as though their
suffrages were thing to be trilcd with, and
republicanism itself required no safeguards to
preserve it intact. They point with Just pride
to the founders of the repnblic to their patri
otism their disinterestedness and their worth !;
how personal feelings and private prejudces
were sacrificed for the general good; vet act as
if such qualifc ations were 10 longer necessary
and that public interests should be sacrificed to
private benefits and personal aggrandzcments
They admire the noble patriotism which ami
mated the founders of the political fabric, and
admit that men of such purity were necessary
for its successful establishment but act as if
demagogues alone were competent to govern
and preserve it in its state of original purity
In the early days of the republic men were
called to serve the people for the good of their
common country in later times men thrust
themselves into public service to crafty their
own personal ends. Then men were elected to
office on account of their qualifications and
their honesty; now they are elected for their
shrewdness without any regard to honesty or
worth. Then the people, by the exercise of
their right of suffrage, decided who should fill
the several Offices; now tricksters and shrewd
wire-workers settle that matter among them
selves. Demagogism has usurped high places,
where patriotism alone should dwell ignorance
puts forth its weak pretensions where talent
should reign and command respect honesty
and worth are thrust aside and rascality and
corruption hold sway in places of profit and
trust. The whole State, and every county and
city are suffering under the blight of misrule
and corruption; the whole community sees and
feels it; the public know that the body polite
is diseased, yet refuse to step forward and lend
helping hand to save the sickly patient
That these evils exist there is no denying, and
they will continue to exist till the people deter
mine to overthrow and disregard the action of
all political conventions, or take the matter in
their own hands, by controlling these conven-
tions themselves.
On Wednesday next the people will go
through the farce of voting for men to fill the
various Offices State and County. We speak of
it as farce, and consider it can justly be called
nothing else, as everything was arranged by
that class of men who control conventions, at
the time the candidates were nominated, and
that, too, without endeavoring to express the
will of the people, and caring not whether they
were satisfied or no, we'll knowing that nineteen |
twentieths of the voters will go to the polls and
support the nominees of their party, without
any regard to fitness or qualification, and in
many cases when it is we'll known the candi- |
dates are unworthy of public confidence. Yet,
so strong are the chains of party rule so over
powering the influence of party prejudice, that
everything yields to the tactics and discipline
of the leaders, who spW that certain men should
be elected. The same scenes of corruption, the
same old tricks that have been played again and
again to cheat the public, will be carried outat
the coming election. The same class ofmen who
have ruled the destinies of the State and filled
the offices of our county, to the great detriment
and almost the ruin of public interests, will
again be elevated and sit like an incubus to
prey upon the public.
And yet, with all the experience of the past
to warn them, the people act as though they
can not or will not see that they are annually
sold in conventions to those who have no prin-
ciples except to grasp the spolls-none save the
seven cardinal principles of politicons-the
M Eel ind n
sion to party politics. benefits no one but the
politicians, who chuckle among themselves to
think how easily the masses are imposed upon,
how readily they become the dupes and tools
reap the benefits at the public expense, who
adhere to one another for the sake of the public
piunder, who fatten upon the spoils, live ex-
travagantly, line their own pockets, without
returning an equivalent while the public foot
the bills, by paying exorbitant taxes. What is
the condition of our State, and almost every
county? Bankrupt, almost beyond the hope of
redemption, and annually growing worse be-
cause the same species of unprincipled men
hold sway. The State is millions in debt, with
out ANYTHING to show-yet demagogues tell us
it is owing to the State springing into existence
before it was ripe for separate organization,
while they know that it is fallaeious and that
it does not account for the immense amount OF
public funds that have been expended by un-
necessary legislation in the way OF private
bills which have been passed for the
mn rnose of rewardnr party favorites such as |
State-prison contracts, &c. In addition to the
immense taxes which the people have paid, the
State has been swindled out of all the property /
she ever owned-her interest in the water front |
of San Francisco, her School Lands all gone,
and where is the benefit?
And still, while the people assist in continu-
ing this state of affairs, the masses are politi-