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People wonder that so literary a people as the Americans--a people who read more than any people who ever lived, who read so many newspapers--should have such bad newspapers.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “People wonder that so literary a people as the Americans--a people who read more than any people who ever lived, who…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot reflects on the paradox of a highly literate American populace producing subpar newspapers.
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No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
And therefore party is inherent in it, is bone of its bone, and breath of its breath.
If the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constituencies are necessary, voluntary constituencies destructive; the optional transferability of votes is not a salutary aid, but a ruinous innovation.
They are above corruption because they are the corruptors.
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