Under the impact of propaganda, not necessarily in
the sinister meaning of the word alone, the old constants of our
thinking have become variables. It is no longer possible, for example,
to believe in the original dogma of democracy; that the knowledge
needed for the management of human affairs comes up spontaneously from
the human heart. Where we act on that theory we expose ourselves to
self-deception, and to forms of persuasion that we cannot verify. It
has been demonstrated that we cannot rely upon intuition, conscience,
or the accidents of casual opinion if we are to deal with the world
beyond our reach.
PART VI
THE IMAGE OF DEMOCRACY
"I confess that in America I saw more than America;
I sought the image of democracy itself."
Alexis de Tocqueville.
CHAPTER 16. THE SELF-CENTERED MAN
" 17. THE SELF-CONTAINED COMMUNITY
" 18. THE ROLE OF FORCE, PATRONAGE AND PRIVILEGE
" 19. THE OLD IMAGE IN A NEW FORM: GUILD SOCIALISM
" 20. A NEW IMAGE
CHAPTER XVI
THE SELF-CENTERED MAN
I
SINCE Public Opinion is supposed to be the prime mover in democracies,
one might reasonably expect to find a vast literature. One does not
find it. There are excellent books on government and parties, that is,
on the machinery which in theory registers public opinions after they
are formed. But on the sources from which these public opinions arise,
on the processes by which they are derived, there is relatively
little.
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