Section 6

The Extra-legal Government Uses Its Power Selfishly to Maintain Itself and to Benefit Those Who Have Organized and Supported It

Our extra-legal government is not one of altruists. It may be relied upon to act selfishly in two respects: First, it will use all of its influence and power to maintain itself. Then as its tenure of power becomes more secure it will use that power to reward the leaders who have organized and supported it.

The clear perception of what is necessary for the maintenance of the extra-legal government will provide the wise politocrat with a deep-rooted political philosophy. His creed, if uttered, would sound something like this: “I believe in the disfranchisement of the voter by keeping him too ignorant politically to vote intelligently. I believe that all voters, no matter how intelligent in general, can be made politically ignorant in voting by placing upon them a burden of investigating candidates and attending elections which they can conceivably, but will not in fact, perform. I believe that such a burden upon the voter can be produced most readily by the decentralization of governmental power in every possible way, and the constant application of the elective principle. I therefore believe in fostering the popular fear of kings, the popular prejudice against the centralization of power and the filling of offices by appointment. Above all I believe in more democracy (i.e., more applications of the elective principle) as the cure for the ills of democracy.”

With these deep-seated convictions, the course of action of the wise politocrat in many respects is not difficult to predict and not difficult to understand when it is observed. The chief executive of the state or of the United States who, in response to any popular demand, attempts to influence or coerce the legislature must be publicly rebuked. It must be pointed out that he is overstepping the bounds of his constitutional power. He must confine himself to the limited constitutional sphere of the executive. When a man becomes governor or president he must cease to be a citizen. The promotion of decentralization of governmental power through the creation of several new municipal corporations operating in the same district is a step which should always receive the favorable attention of the politocrats. The constant application of the elective principle to each newly created office must be maintained. The election district furthermore should always be kept as large as possible and always larger than the personal reputation of anyone who would be likely to seek a given office which the voters of the district select. Methods of redistricting can be devised and carried out so as to yield the maximum amount of power for the extra-legal government for the time being in power. Election laws must be so shaped and administrative acts so directed as to enable the organization to marshal its votes in the most effective way. New parties and independent movements must be discouraged. One of the neatest devices to effect such discouragement is to retain the party circle and at the same time provide that no candidate shall appear on more than one ticket on the ballot. That will force all candidates who can secure the extra-legal government’s party nomination to take it as against an independent nomination. The fact that the extra-legal government puts up some men who are satisfactory and who cannot also be placed upon an independent ticket will discourage the putting in the field of any independent ticket. No harm will be done to the extra-legal government by politocrats if the network of governmental bodies becomes very complex, or if the details of carrying out provisions of election laws become so difficult to understand that the whole machinery of elections must be directed by a few experts.

But the chief care of the wise politocrat will not be to acquire a selfish political philosophy or a selfish program for governmental legislation. Of paramount importance is the organizing, recruiting, training, feeding, and caring for the feudal army of directors and advisers to the politically ignorant voter and the rewarding of the officers and lesser leaders of that army according to their position. So far as possible, of course, the district and precinct workers will be given places upon the public pay-rolls and so fed and clothed from the public treasury. In return for what they receive from the public they will do the minimum amount of work for the public and the maximum amount for the organization. Places on the pay-rolls of private corporations may also be at the disposal of the leaders among the politocrats. In a city of any size much small graft connected with the issuing of licenses of all sorts, the selling of liquor, the business of vice, and the activities of the underworld may be picked up by the privates and captains in the organization. The lesser politocrats will take the higher salaried positions and fee offices. It will not interfere with their obtaining these places that they must submit to an election. The work of the office will be done by a chief deputy paid out of the public treasury. The holder of the office will, therefore, be enabled to spend his entire time conducting the business of advising and directing the politically ignorant voter whom to vote for. The larger graft connected with the protection of the business of vice and the activities of the underworld will go to those who are still higher up among the politocrats. This, however, is a dirty and risky mode of reward and the protection which can be given has its limits. Many politocrats, and among them the most powerful, will not touch it personally. In certain districts men of excellent social standing and mental attainments can be used to advantage by the extra-legal government. In most instances material of this sort can be drawn from among lawyers. The reward for those who are constant and effective in their service will be a place in the corporation counsel’s office or the state’s attorney’s office, and finally a place upon the bench. The larger graft of public contracts is reserved for the overlords of the feudal organization. But even this the great leaders will not touch.

The great prize which is reserved for the lord paramount and his tenants in chief is the privilege of entering into an alliance, offensive and defensive, with special business and property interests which need the aid of the local or state governmental power to exploit to the best advantage the many, or the protection from governmental interference at the demand of the many who are being exploited. Indeed, so close may the relations become between the great captains of such special business and property interests and the extra-legal government by politocrats, that the real power of government may to some extent actually reside in the former rather than the latter. It will indeed be difficult in many instances to tell which group commands and which obeys. Where the leaders of both are equally able there will be a complete partnership.