Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-10-07

without any regard to justice or reason.
The less principle there is in the contests
OF parties the more reckless do the politi.
clans become, and in all their movements
the goal held out to the voters is the enact
ment Of laws which it is freely asserted
must be effective, for no other reason than
because the deluded masses imagine them
to be needed.
The fact that legislation which has it's
origin in these blind raids has never proved
effective is the last truth remembered or
| realized by the credulous dupes of dema-
gogism. Flattered and pulled up by the
| sycophantic worship OF the charlatans who
figure as .reformers, the simple voters are
always ready to throw Up their hats at the
close of a campaign, and rejoice when
gravely assured that they have won a
splendid victory. In such cases the pcliti-
clans who have Quilted and out humbugged
their rivals are sometimes driven TO make
q pretense of fulfilling their pledges. They
do this reluctantly, for they at least know
how jnsincere their professions have been.
But armed with legislative authority they
proceed to enact the promised measures,
and in SO doing they emulate the faulty
OF their constituents in ignoring all obsta-
| cles to the application of the doctrines
they wish to enforce. 1t is at such times
useless to point ont that their proposed
|
laws conflict with the plainest provisions
of the Constitution, State or national.
They ignore all such objections, as Cali
fornia Legislatures have dore a score of
times in eracting the most preposterous
and worthless anti Chinese statutes. 1t is
nothing to them that they are wasting
time and involving their constituents in
needless expense. They cooIly pass over
unnoticed all constitutional objections, and
leave it to the Courts to tear down the
himsy structures they have erected.
Tnis kind of legislation has been very
abundant In California, and the records of
the Courts are full of instances OF its in.
validation. And the politicians who make
unconstitutional laws have not been con-
tent with this exhibition of folly. They
have gone further, and undertaken to en-
graft on the State Constitution provisions
which set the organic law of the Union at
defiance. The press which supports this
species of mob legislation RACES fercely
against the Courts which in the perform
ance of their duty declare the sham statutes
invalid. But the fiat of the Courts is
final, pending revision of the United
States Constitution, and this futile vitu.
peration only serves to emphasize the dis.
honesty and imbecility of the journals
which resort to it, in the opinion of all in.
telligent men. 1t is no wonder that as
American politics are now conducted the
best elements of the community should
shrink from any connection with public
affairs, and that the business of legislation
should be left more aud more to incompe-
tent and untrustworthy hands. The truth
is that under the ever increasing unscrupu-
lousness of politicians there is danger that
the bulwarks of constitutional government
will ultimately be swept away. Already
instances have occurred in which deliber-
ate efforts have been made, not only to
pack Legislatures, but Courts, and when
candidates for the highest judicial func.
tons of State have been catechised as to
their standing upon questions which every.
body knew would come before them for
adjudication.
We have only to imagine a wave Of
demagogism extensive enough to sweep
the entire country at any one time, and we
have the means whereby the appellate
Courts even might be revolutionized, and
mob'tyranny, undsr the thin disguise of
law, be established throughout the nation.
Fortunately thus far the recklessness and
dishonesty Of politicians have been en-
ployed inharmoniously, and as a result the
most determined attempts at the enact
ment Of unco astitutio lal laws have failed.
So long as there remain any independent
and self-respecting Courts in the country
this must always be the case. The dema.
gogues will strike upon the fatal rock of
the Constitution, and their schemes will go
to pieces there. And in every such case
the whole vicious and misguided agita-
tation which eliminated in the upconstitu-
tional law is of course worse than wasted
time. For instead of being educated to
better understanding of the limits of their
power, and OF the principles upon which
their government rests, the people have
been demoralizsd by sophistries which lead
them to believe that they are at once
omnipotent and omniscisnt, and that they
have perfect right to do whatever any
caprice may induce them to desire.
The politicians in FACT teach the people
to misconstrue their own responsibilities
and duties; to misinterpret their relative
obligations and to lean continually toward
oppressive measures. 1t is often said,
parrot-fashion, that a democracy must de.
pend for its survival upon the general COM
prehension by its members of the principles
OF their government. Bat if experience is
true criterion it will have to I've admitted
that such comprehension of the principles
and limits of republican government is be-
coming rarer instead of more common, as
time passes. The increasing dishonesty of
the politician class is mainly responsible
for this. Patriotism in this class appears
to be dead. They ere seif.seekers, and I'M
scrupulCus and disingenuous self seekers.
To be politician, and to be a hypocrise,
and falsifer, are becoming Synonymous and
interchangeable terms, and it seems to be
thought thatthe more demsgogism obtains,
the more necessary it is to have resort to
it. At present the time of the Courts is
largely occupied in undoing the unconstitu.