Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-04
THE INCONSISTENT RADICALS

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ership of Senator LaFonete is attempting to do so many things
all at once that it fails to be consistent in some things. Perhaps
the most inconsistent thing among the members of the bloc is the
fact that they continue to call themselves Republicans or Demo-
Gratis, as the case may be, yet their aim, apparently, is to break
down all party lines and destroy political parties altogether. They
are Inconsistent again in the method for bringing this about.
Senator LaFolette, who poses as the leader of this new organi-
cation considers himself a Republican, apparently, as he has been
repeatedly elected on the Republican ticket and acknowledges the
classification of Republican in the senate. The same is true of SEN
ator Borah, who is another leader in the so-called radical group.
Then there is Senator johnson and Senatorelect Brookhart, Of
Iowa, and Senator-elect shipstead, of Minnesota-al Republicans
in name, but, judging from the action taken at the recent gather
ing of their clan in Washington, their main object is to upset the.
present Republican administration and bring discredit upon the
party. What could be more inconsistent than thatG Apparently,
the Republican party is good enough for getting into office, but
rnce in, the idea seems to be to do something possible to destroy it.
And in one o. the methods chosen for destroying the Repub-
lcan party along with party government in general, the radicals
are again inconsistent. One of the principal planks in their plat
form is the abolition of the electoral college by which our presi-
dents are elected. OF course, in recent years the electoral college
has become a mere formality. The constitution provides that each
state shall select presidential electors and these electors, chosen by
the people, shall meet on a certain date and elect a president and
vice president. But to all intents and purposes the people elect
their own president, the electors merely fulfilling the constitu-
tional provision by meeting and carrying out the will Of the people
as expressed at the polls.
ID people, IN casting incl Dau0LS vote o d nedQ o Il n
ticket, not the electors. The Democrats vote for the Democratic
candidate for president and the Republicans vote for the Repub-
lean candidate regardless of who the electors are. Abolition of
the electoral college, which is the name by which the body of cleo
tors is known, would make but little difference in the vote as far
as being the direct will Of the people is concerned. Occasionally
it SO happens that a majority of the electors does not represent a
majority of the people. But as the electors vote by states and are
Republican or Democratic, according to the vote in their respec-
tive states, whether the majority be large or small, they are going
10 vote for the candidates of their respective parties. A few big
populous states may turn out big majoriies for a candidate for one
party, but no matter if the vote, as far as the people are concern
ed, is unanimous, the presidential candidate gets only the number
Of votes that the state is entitled to in the electoral college. At the
same time, a great many on the smaller states may choose electors
favoring another presidential candidate but by small majorites so
that more people vote for the first candidate in the few populous
states than vote for the second candidate in the many smaller
states. Yet, regardless of the majorities, the electoral vote is I'M
changed so that when the vote in the electoral college is taken the
small maiorities in the little states have elected enough electors to
over balance the big majorities in the few populous states.
As said before, however, this seldom happens. But if we un-
derstand the purpose of the radicals in congress, they want to get
away from the strict party vote and desire that Independent can
didates-candidates who are not allied with any political organ
ization, be chosen for public office. This being the case, then, one
would think that instead OF desiring to abolish the electoral college
altogether they would endeavor to strengthen this feature in the
election Of a President. In other words, instead of abohshng the
electoral college and forcing the people to choose directly either a
Republican or a Democrat for President, they would insist that the
electors be given the full powers that the trainers of the constitu-
ton intended that they should have, that is: The people vote for
the electors and have the electors pick out the best man they can
find to head the government regardless Of political parties.
This would seem to be more consistent for those who advocate
doing away with partisan politics than the idea of doing away with
the electoral college altogether. To have the President elected di-
rect by the people would necesstate parties to nominate rival can
didates and the partisan feeling would naturally be aroused. If
the voters knew, however, that the election Of a president was to
be left to the body of men whom they elected to the electoral col
lege for that purpose and that the right man would be chosen re-
gardless Of political affiliations then, indeed, would a big step be
taken toward breaking down the political parties as they now ex-
list.
As this seems to be the main object of the radical bloc as now
organized under LaFollette and Borah, their inconsistency is most
apparent. Whether they like the idea of a third party or not, they
certainly ought not to continue to call themselves Republicans or
Democrats when they have nothing in common with either party as
at present controlled.
We have just had a striking example Of the attempt to break
down party government in Great Britain. Lloyd George fathered
the movement to ignore party lines and continue a coalition gov
eminent legidating for the benefit Of the country regardless of
party affiliations. His position was challenged by the Conserva-
tives and in an appeal to the country the party government under
the Conservative banner won handsomely. The nonpartisan move
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