On the record
But for the purpose now in hand--that of preventing hasty action, and ensuring elaborate consideration--there is no device like a polity of discussion.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “But for the purpose now in hand--that of preventing hasty action, and ensuring elaborate consideration--there is no…”
Editor's note · Context
He argues that a system of discussion is the best way to prevent hasty decisions and promote thorough consideration.
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More from Walter Bagehot
I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.
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.
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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