This is not fully accepted as yet in the
movement, in which there is still a strong leaven of the old craving for
an easy-going system which, beginning with "the socialization of the
means of production, distribution, and exchange," will then work out
automatically without interference with the citizen's private affairs.
Another subject which has hardly yet been touched, and which also must
begin with deductive treatment, is what may be called the
democratization of democracy, and its extension from a mere negative and
very uncertain check on tyranny to a positive organizing force. No
experienced Fabian believes that society can be reconstructed (or rather
constructed; for the difficulty is that society is as yet only half
rescued from chaos) by men of the type produced by popular election
under existing circumstances, or indeed under any circumstances likely
to be achieved before the reconstruction. The fact that a hawker cannot
ply his trade without a licence whilst a man may sit in Parliament
without any relevant qualifications is a typical and significant anomaly
which will certainly not be removed by allowing everybody to be a hawker
at will. Sooner or later, unless democracy is to be discarded in a
reaction of disgust such as killed it in ancient Athens, democracy
itself will demand that only such men should be presented to its choice
as have proved themselves qualified for more serious and disinterested
work than "stoking up" election meetings to momentary and foolish
excitement.
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