And nothing would surprise him more than the
discovery of how steadily the prestige of representative government
has declined, while the power of the Presidency has grown.
Some critics have traced this to the custom of sending only local
celebrities to Washington. They have thought that if Congress could
consist of the nationally eminent men, the life of the capital would
be more brilliant. It would be, of course, and it would be a very good
thing if retiring Presidents and Cabinet officers followed the example
of John Quincy Adams. But the absence of these men does not explain
the plight of Congress, for its decline began when it was relatively
the most eminent branch of the government. Indeed it is more probable
that the reverse is true, and that Congress ceased to attract the
eminent as it lost direct influence on the shaping of national policy.
The main reason for the discredit, which is world wide, is, I think,
to be found in the fact that a congress of representatives is
essentially a group of blind men in a vast, unknown world. With some
exceptions, the only method recognized in the Constitution or in the
theory of representative government, by which Congress can inform
itself, is to exchange opinions from the districts. There is no
systematic, adequate, and authorized way for Congress to know what is
going on in the world. The theory is that the best man of each
district brings the best wisdom of his constituents to a central
place, and that all these wisdoms combined are all the wisdom that
Congress needs.
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