The Nature of Democracy
"To act with entire honesty and self-respect, one should always live in a pure atmosphere, and the atmosphere of politics is impure"(Adams, 44). And with such words, the essence of Democracy by Henry Adams, is captured through the words of character Senator Silas Ratcliffe. For Ratcliffe, democracy represents a political playground that excludes human emotion and morals, and abides by Machiavelli's notion of the end justifying the means. Democracy is a unique system in American politics that manifests power and power's ability to corrupt. However, for Mrs. Madeline Ross Lee, democracy and political life in general is a dirty business. Her disgust with politics culminates until she realizes that until there is a better alternative to democracy, she must live in this institution while trying to maintain her virtues of morality and honesty. As Winston Churchill effectively stated, "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Wasting no time, Madeline quickly learns that government is corrupt. Yet at first, she is debating with Mr. Ratcliffe if it is government, or the society of individuals who run government who are corrupt. She inquires, "Is a respectable government impossible in a democracy?," to which Ratcliffe replies, "Purify society and you purify the government. But try to purify the government artificially and you only aggravate failure" (43). Through tea-time conversations and political debates, Madeline becomes aware of the injustices occurring in politics. She learns that pleasure in politics derives from possessing power, though access to power comes through compromising one's values. "Everywhere men betray trusts both public and private, steal money, run away with public funds" (44). Allegiance to political parties is strong and overrides personal grievances, even if it is to one's own party. Politicians become so engrossed in winning supporters and trying hard to be politically correct, that they quickly lose sight of their own beliefs and develop blind ignorance to morals. Ratcliffe is a prime example of selling his soul, as on two occasions he is found guilty of graft and political conspiracy. Yet shockingly, Ratcliffe feels no remorse for his actions; "I am not proud of the transaction, but I would do it again, and worse than that if I thought it would save this country from disunion" (60). Ratcliffe's political scandal proves the crooked nature of politics because even though he is not proud of his actions, nevertheless he would not renounce them. He maintains unscrupulous measures to win the election because "If virtue won't answer our purpose, then we must use vice, or our opponents will put us out of office" (76). With such actions, Madeline becom
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Approximate Word count = 1201
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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