On the record
The mode of governing the country, according to the existing laws, is mostly worn into a rut, and most administrations move in it because it is easier to move there than anywhere else.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “The mode of governing the country, according to the existing laws, is mostly worn into a rut, and most administrations…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot critiques the stagnation in governance, suggesting that administrations often follow established paths for convenience.
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More from Walter Bagehot
Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner.
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.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
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