THE PEOPLE AND THE PARTY MACHINES
Sts,—It appears now to have been settled that the National Government shall be broken up, and presumably that we shall face the critical period of the post-war years with a party government. To me this presents itself in the light of a piece of irresponsible folly. We shall need a govern- ment which can speak with the authority of the whole nation and not only of a part of it, scarcely less than we did in 1940. It is not my purpose to argue this opinion, but to state it as one which is sincerely held by many people. What I want to ask is, who has made this momentous decision, which must profoundly affect the future of this country and of Europe? So far as I can tell the decision has been made by the party machines. At least it is certain that the decision has not been made by the people of this land They have never been consulted; they have had no choice of expressing any view at all. And they never will have a chance, for how is one who agrees with me to vote at the general election? Owing to the fact that the negative vote is not allowed, he must either vote for a party government or not at all. We have here a disturbing example of the way in which the purpose of democracy may be defeated in the name of democracy.—Yours obediently,
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