Where the
wish is father to the thought such logic is convincing. Moreover, the
doctrine of the omnicompetent citizen is for most practical purposes
true in the rural township. Everybody in a village sooner or later
tries his hand at everything the village does. There is rotation in
office by men who are jacks of all trades. There was no serious
trouble with the doctrine of the omnicompetent citizen until the
democratic stereotype was universally applied, so that men looked at a
complicated civilization and saw an enclosed village.
Not only was the individual citizen fitted to deal with all public
affairs, but he was consistently public-spirited and endowed with
unflagging interest. He was public-spirited enough in the township,
where he knew everybody and was interested in everybody's business.
The idea of enough for the township turned easily into the idea of
enough for any purpose, for as we have noted, quantitative thinking
does not suit a stereotype. But there was another turn to the circle.
Since everybody was assumed to be interested enough in important
affairs, only those affairs came to seem important in which everybody
was interested.
This meant that men formed their picture of the world outside from the
unchallenged pictures in their heads. These pictures came to them well
stereotyped by their parents and teachers, and were little corrected
by their own experience.
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