Litchfield enquirer., 1860-05-03
THE PARTY OF PLACE MEN

lhere IS mucu DISSATISFACTION ID all pQrtle
 with the existing machinery of politics, tn,
 caucuses and nominating conventions by
 which candidates for office are brought be-
 fore the people. In theory this machinery
 is supposed to controlled by the people and
 to give expression to their will. As mat
 ter of fact the politicians control it, and the
 people are but the blind motive power that
 keeps the wheels in motion. How much
 connection have the rank and file of the de.
 mocratic party had with the operations go
 ing on at Charleston this week ' If we could
 sift out their influence and look at it by it.
 self it would be too small to make any ac.
 count of. And no account is made of it.
 The Charleston Convention represents the
 ofice-holders and expectants of office in the democratic party. The Convention is their affair-for their benefit and under their en-
 tire control. It is true that the same fact exists to certain extent in all parties, but it only reaches its perfection of abuse in 8 party that has been long in power. Made confident by continuous successes, the politi- cians of the dominant party come to feel in- dependent of the people, and pay little re- gard to their opinions and wishes. They ac- quire the spirit of the hereditary rulers in an oligarchy and think they have perpet- ual claim to office. Certain men and fami- lies assume a prescriptive right to fatten out of the public crib, ard look at an at. tempt to oust them as an outrage. You can pick out the men and families in every town and city for which democratic ad- is held bound to "do some- thing"-which means to feed them at the public expense. The democratic party has been so long in undisturbed power that it has thousands of dependents and hangers on of this sort. The party exists for them. They are the men represented at Charles ton, and their welfare is the first thing to be attended to there. These men are not "sec. tional" at all-they care nothing either for North or Southland they arc not bigoted, for they swear by no principles, except the oaves and fishes. Popular sovereignty and sovereignty are alike indiffer- ent to them. All that they care for is the nomination of men who will win, and who will respect " their claims," and the build ing of Q platform that will either satisfy or deceive the people-thcy care not which.
 Nobody will deny that this class is the element in the Charleston Con- 7ention. When such is the state of things t matters very little what men are nomi- ,ated. The power has gone entirely from he people to the politicians and office hold ITS, and there needs to be breaking up of he fallow ground. The hereditary place ncn need to be busted, to teach them that hey have no perpetual lease of power and ] fresh lot of public servants taken directly rom the ranks of the people. Of course the outs" are men who take this view of he matter. They can give any number of ,ood reasons why the welfare of the con.r ry requires that they should go in But he principle is sound one, and the sue 'essive overthrow of parties is the great se- ;urity of our institutions.
 It would be good thing for the country o have the party now in power displaced y new set of men, even if the govern nent were to be administered on no different principles. Long success corrupts any par y, and the present party has been long nough in power to show great need of the discipline of disappointment and defeat Setting out of view the more healthy prin- iples of the republican party, it will come reshly from the people. For these reasons, there were no other and stronger Ones, se should say let us have change, and let he hereditary office holders be dropped Town among the masses for few years, hat they may recover their forgotten ideas bout the true nature of democracy-I epringfeld Republieam.