Edmund Burke taught that a few elites should run any nation.
As Robert Hutchins put it,
"Burke developed the doctrine of 'virtual representation,'
which enabled him to claim that all power should reside in the hands of the
few, in his case the hands of the landed aristocracy. They had the
qualifications for governing: intelligence, leisure, patriotism, and education.
"They 'virtually' represented the best of the community, even though the rest of
the community had not chosen them to do so. Burke was not interested in the
education of the people, because, though government was to be conducted in
their interest, it was unthinkable that they could determine what their
interest was. They had neither the information, the intelligence, nor the time
to govern themselves."
This smugness about members of the middle and lower classes,
this idea that they are less "intelligent" than those of the upper class, was
entirely rejected by Thomas Jefferson.
Hutchins wrote:
"Dramatically opposed to
a position such as Burke is the American faith in democracy, and in education
in relation to democracy, stated succinctly by Jefferson: 'I know of no safe
depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves...'"
This view made America different from the outset, a nation
by the people, of the people and for the people.
Burke calculated that out of the 8-10 million people in the
British Isles of his day, the number of citizens who should help make decisions
for the nation were "about four thousand." In relative terms, that would be
about 133,000 in today's United States. Only these few elites, in Burke's view,
would have the intelligence to lead America.
Fortunately, we followed the Jeffersonian model instead of
Burke's elitism. Unfortunately, there are many among America's elite (in both
major political parties, academia, the media, etc.) who still share Burke's
perspective.
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Social Leader Daily by Oliver DeMille
