On the record
A Minister who succumbs to the House,--who ostentatiously seeks its pleasure,--who does not try to regulate it,--who will not boldly point out plain errors to it, seldom thrives.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “A Minister who succumbs to the House,--who ostentatiously seeks its pleasure,--who does not try to regulate it,--who…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot critiques ministers who overly seek approval from the House, suggesting it undermines their effectiveness.
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More from Walter Bagehot
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.
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.
Political philosophy is still more imperfect; it has been framed from observations taken upon regular specimens of politics and States; as to these its teaching is most valuable.
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