Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-21
The Occupational Vote
Qv Hvnduv;~ T. Hnnlktn

4
| vote all over the country because ne
drives his own car with great skill, and
because he is an honorary ncrnbcr of thc
Professional Cbaiiffsaus Association of
| the District Of Columbia. II IS understood
that chatidcurs' clubs viii be organized
in all cities to support him.
/ This fact certainly ought 10 contain
suggestion for those gentlemen ~ political
power who manage presidential campaigns.
| II IL evident that the cbaufcins are rot
going to support Harding becaitsc Of his
| record as an executive, nor yet because
Of the platform on which he stands, but
| primarily because Of his record as
| chauffeur. IL would seem that IL q candidate
could be found who had devoted himself
| 20 enough different occupations az one
| time and another, and IL these occupation
nj syrnpathies could he properly worked
upon, he would sweep the country.
This tendency % play up facts about a
candidate which have nothing to do with
his fitness for the Presidency, and which
is noticeable in every presidential cam
paign. is evidence of a weakness ~ the
Democratic system of government which
has been pointed out by every critic Of ~.
This weakness is that the average man
feels more strongly than be thinks, and ia
therefore apt 20 vote for the man who can
most strongly arouse his synpathies,
rather than the one who il logically fit TO
serve in offiee. The man who ar0uses his
syTnpathies is the one who is most like
bim. But this average man is not a genius,
he is mcdiocrity Hence, il isargued, the
tendency is always 20 choose mcdiOcri-
tics for office and exclude really gifted men
PRESIDENTIAL REoUiREMENTs.
You can easily think Of many facts in
support of this idea. In a presidential
campaign, or any other kind Of political
campaign, there is always q great effort
on the part Of each candidates supporters
10 bring ont all the homely facts about
him, which make him seem similar 10
the average man. n he is fond 0f babies,
or buttermilk or funny stories, If he
shaves himself, or plays pinochle-any
of these things il strongtly in his favor,
although having little Or nothing % do
with hrs capacity for running nation.
In this country il is almost necessary that
he should be of humble origin, preferably
on farm. and that he should have had
poor education and hard time in bis
| youth. Tbese carly privations are az best Of
| doubtful value in fitting him for the
| Presidency, but they indicate that he is
| Just like most Of the rest of Us. We are
| afraid Of the superior man because he
is different, argue the critics of democracy.
| We want 81 feel that tho man in the White
| House il one Of us although obviously
what we need there is some one q good
| deal different from most If us
A symptom of the same spirit is the
| tendency of the opposition 10 dig M I'll
| facts about the candidate which indicate
| that he differs from the conventional
| type of man Especially If he can he shown
| 10 have done anything scandalous or IN
| ccnvential in his relations with women
| this can be used powerfully against him
| II may be said thatthis is because We want
a man for President who IL a model of
the domestic virtues We are shocked
| and appalled, TO learn from the new science
| of psychoanalysis however, that in reality
our instructive opposition to the uncon-
| vefltional man is due to envy. Most Of
us, they say, are consciously or subcon-
| sciously, somewhat chafed by the bonds Of
conventionality. We would really like to
be free. We envy the man who Is free.
And therefore we vote against him.
l. Here again, a mans personal or dornes-
tic life has little to do with his capacity
as a statesman. In fact, many greatly
gifted men IN all lines have not been pat
terms Of domestic virtue, as anyone may
learn by reading the biographies of those
who have been dead long enough SO that
their bIographers dare to be frank about
them.
ARE THE CRITICS RIGHT?
So the critics of Democracy seem TO
make out strong ease to the effect that
Democracy IS merely method Of choosing
medioerities for high Office and keeping
really great men cut. But a little re8ec-
tion shows that there Is another side TO
the question. The average Individual may
fear and envy the superior man, but he
also has a need for leadership which he
feels very strongly. Hence his great capac-
lty for hero-wOrshlp, which Carlyle points
out. Ii is evident that once the superior
man Is gotten into the limelight and
demonstrated conclusively that he has
powers which the average man lacks
then the average man tends to follow him
Loyalty and even blindly. This tendency
could be traced from primitive times,
If there were space here. Thus the medicine
men or shams of all primitive tribes are
superior men who have demonstrated
their abilities and have obtained great
power. But the witches and sOreerers, who
are killed, are individuals of the same type
who are overcome by envy and antagO-
nism before they attain power.
1t takes only glance at history TO
see that many really great and superior
men have attained leadership, and that
people have followed them blindly. Christ,
MahOmet, Cesar and Napoleon were great
men, each of whom was a law unto HIM
self. Each of them encountered envy and
antagoniSm at first, but later rose TO
power.
PEOPLE WILL FOLLOW LEADERS.
You can see in any Democracy the
same tendency toward a blind following
OF the man who seems TO have demon
strated that he has inspiration and per-
sonality. And if you will study the careers
of such men YOU VIII generally find that
it is their peerS-their fellow leaders-who
have kept them from power, and not the
people. The people seldom have a really
effective power in the matter.
The two recent conventions might be
taken as text. Before the Republican
Convention the men who had interested
the people were Hoover, Johnson, Wood
and Lowden. The first two, especially,
had made eundoubted impressions, as shown
by the primaries, without the aid of large
campaign funds. Both OF them were shelly
ed by the leaders at the convention and
a man chosen who had attracted no popu-
lar attention at all. Harding, of course.
may be a second Lincoln. He is. indeed
fine type of American. The only fact
to be pointed out here is that he had not
demonstrated the fact to the people.
The convention thwarted the popular will
instead of fulfilling it. In other words,