Politics begins, not with the Constitution or Robert's Rules of Order, but with people. Any system which fails to take this into account, believing in its own infallibility, dooms itself to obsolescence and failure. Man created the so called "machinery" of government (Lippmann, 1969, 16-17) to serve human purposes. It functions merely as an instrument, in the hands of people: legislators, judges, officials, and civil servants, designed to help people realize their own subjective desires. No tool is fitted to all purposes and all circumstances, nor is any system of government. Each must be continually tested and modified in order to perform effectively. The United States Constitution would never have survived these many years had not court decisions and legislative amendments tempered its impact to the changing conditions of society (Ibid., 11-12). The intricate calculus of checks-and-balances will not suffice if left only to itself; the processes of government must be kept malleable.

        These two doctrines of government--emphasizing mechanical aspects, on the one hand, and human elements, on the other--are mirrored in the attitudes of our government officials (Lippmann, 1969, 23-24). Lost in a barrage of "committee meetings, verbose reports, flamboyant speeches, requests, and delegations (Ibid., 14)" most politicians mistake the instrument of routine for an idol (Ibid., 150 and 182). They allow petrified successes from the past to obstruct future experimentation, thereby freezing all progress (Ibid., 10). The true statesman transcends this rigidity with an open, creative mind focused upon the needs and wants of the public (Ibid., 224), employing routine, yet always its master.

        Of the numerous forces which mold our social conditions and the quality of life, electoral politics is but one (Lippmann, 1969, 47). Scientific research, literature, and art add their insights to the cultural base; while trade unions, business interests, and reform movements contribute their energies directly into the community's social and political activities. Each might effectively employ the high ideals of statecraft within its own sphere of influence to substitute short-sighted "practical" demands (Ibid., 136 and 139) with long-range goals of lasting value. Such people among the labor unions could temper the perpetual demands for higher wages with a concern for working conditions which bring pride and dignity to the worker. Industrial statesmen (Ibid., 49) could moderate businessmen's quest for profits to focus on providing useful, durable products and services. And enlightened reformers could amend their groups' endorsements of institutional change to include a plea for a human politics.

        Returning again to the consideration of governments, we find them operating in two distinct modes--the repressive and the cooperative (Lippmann, 1969, 200-203). The first sees only evil, which it attempts to exorcise from society. It clutches the taboo to the exclusion of any other tool (Ibid., 33), outlawing people's natural inclinations and misdirected energies. By ignoring natural powers or repressing human desires, this method of government forces them to the background--invisible and festering--perverting the natural order. Wholesale resistance to and circumvention of statutes may indicate that the laws themselves are detrimental to society (Ibid., 22).

        The second, cooperative, mode of government seeks to serve people's interests. Rather than dispense moral fiats, it studies the anatomy of human behavior (Lippmann, 1969, 20) with a mind towards employing it for beneficial purposes. This method searches for attractive moral equivalents to substitute for vice (Ibid., 40). It fits social institutions and creeds to people's instincts (Ibid., 65), providing each lust with civilized expression (Ibid., 42).

        This kind of imaginative, cooperative government, aimed at promoting joyous human activities (Lippmann, 1969, 216), deserves strong emphasis at the polls and in our daily pursuits. The struggle for its achievement will tax our dedication. It will depend upon our efforts to move it, our intelligence to direct it; its fate is in our hands (Ibid., 223). The road's end will be neither utopia nor catastrophe, for such wishes or fears never come to full realization (Ibid., 207). In the doing "experience itself will reveal our mistakes (Ibid., 84)". "Wisdom remains (Ibid., 159)" ... a new beginning.

        Any comments on this article will be welcomed and should be mailed to the author at Aichi Gakuin University, General Education Division, 12 Araike, Iwasaki-cho, Nisshin, Japan 470-0195 or e-mailed to him. Other papers and works in progress may be accessed at http:// www3.aichi-gakuin.ac.jp/ ~jeffreyb/ research/ index.html .