The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-01-20
why DO the People Engage in Politics

| have added and still add much to the Bit
| terness of the political agitation. II thinks
| that the era OF moral and sentimental poll
| tics through which we have passed gave
| special opportunity to the feminine
| element of society, because the quos-
| tons under discussion involved the feel
| ings so deeply. and so thoroughly en-
| listed the sympathes. This may DO
| true, but we have not observed that,
| during tho heat of the present con-
| 1ict, women have been specially engaged
In tanning the flames of antagonism. The
Nation says that many good Republican
women " swallowed all the BLAINE and
Times and Post stories" about TILDEN,
rebel claims. aud reputation that they be-
Icved in all the outrages manufactured by
the Returning Board machines; and agreed
with GRANT that no President elected by
States lately in rebellion and by the slums
OF New York was entitled to the office.
"They thought" SAYS our nclghbor, that
the people ought TO be governed by the
good people, and that they were the good
people"
We do not doubt, indeed we know, that
many good Republican women thought
just these things; for both men and women
are apt to think those who agree with
them wise and good, and those who OPP
pose them misguided or wicked. They
believed that TILprS was little better than
n thief, and that his idea was to tear up by
the roots all the fine growths of the war
aud to devote his energies to the cutiva-
ton of the weeds which threatened the
crop. They did not balance the evidence
and form judicial opinions but allowed
their passions and prejudices to sway
them.
Were these women singular in that re-
spect, Were they the only advocates OF
the Republican candidates who swallowed
roorbacks and fed on lies believing them
to be truths only u little below tn osc of in.
spirationi Were they the only ones who
held Us traitors to the cause of freedom
and AS emissaries of the devil, the men who
denounced the fraud aud exposed the
hollowness they found in Republicanism
We fancy that the Republican women
Fept their heads very nearly ms well as the
Republican men. aud that their gullibility
and their appetite for campaign lies were
not much greater.
The world will have to grow good deal
older and men good deal wiser before
they approach the decision of political
questions without passion or prejudice,
and judge both friends aud antagonists
with exact justice. 1t is because politics
enlists tho ardent sympathies of men
rather than their reason, that so much iu-
terest is felt therein. II is rare that you
| nud IA citizen who looks with the GOODNESS
NJ a 1iSna 70 itI, NJ tba al, Of
parties. Even the most equal minds. when
the armor OF partisan warfare is girded on,
assume the color OF their party, and Let
their feelings flow in its channels.
politics" says the Nation, sis a busi-
ness. almost rs much q business as the
| work Of IA counting house-stern, prosaic,
practicll-with the same pitfalls for the
| dreamer aud the enthusiast aud the angry
| man. II makes bur little provision for the
expression of the emotions" Undoubt-
| eddy this is true OF the practical and imme-
date administration of political aft airs,
but 1t Is not true Of party politics and
| party conflicts rs practlsed by the people.
| With them n political contest becomes
| great and engrossing rs II becomes ardent
and emotional. Then politics is not a
business to them, but a cause to he fought
for. You cannot make it mere business
| to them. The elements OF adhesion to pO-
| litical principles, devotion to leaders. ale
| glance to party standards, and hereditary
| or clrcumstantial influences upon the feel
| ings and the imagination, must always en-
| ter into "A contest Of parties in the most
| cold blooded natures, and even when eco
nomic questions are alone at issue. People
don't range themselves in opposite parties
| so much under the direction OF logic and
common sense M under the impulse OF SEN
| tment and fidelity to IDEAS II Is Il good
| deal rs II Is IN war, when men rally to the
standards they love.
| Partie, just now are n good deal broken
| up, and there is con sequeutly some confu-
sion. The Democratic host during the last
campaign was motley with Republican
and even the Old time Abolitionist
uniforms, and the stoutest fighters were
among the recruits. They did not fight
for Democratic principles rs they were
known IA quarter of century ago, but
they struck telling blows ut corruption
and fraud because they hated them IA
heartily as they ever hated slavery or seccs-
sion, aud loved the Union. They fought
for al idea. The sentiments are still the
controlling forces OF politics. The real
| politics Is IA far nobler occupation than tho
| prosaic business of self-interest of which
the Nation writes.