On the record
So that the theory which would make government by discussion the exclusive patrimony of a single race of mankind is on the face of it untenable.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “So that the theory which would make government by discussion the exclusive patrimony of a single race of mankind is on…”
Editor's note · Context
He argues against the theory that governance through discussion is exclusive to a single race, deeming it untenable.
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More from Walter Bagehot
Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
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