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162 Now, therefore, may we see more clearly, the scaffolding having been removed. We behold a structure much simpler, and therefore much more beautiful, than we had conceived.11 Democracy is a state of society. It is such a constitution of the social order as allows each member to develop his personality to the full and at the same time to participate in public affairs on his own motion. The demos is selfcontrolling . So, likewise, is peace a state of society. Certainly it is not an agreement not to fight, not even a successful conciliation, not a treaty or an understanding . A treaty of peace is only a pledge of the contending parties that under certain conditions they will behave themselves. Peace inheres in the nature of the social organization. It is not eternal, nor extraneous, nor a symptom. It is one of the fruitions of democracy, and evidence that people have arrived at enduring values and have learned self-control. Democratic society expresses itself in many ways: in government and other national action, in religion, in an educational intention, in some particular social order. Democracy is primarily a sentiment—a sentiment of personality. It is the expression of the feeling that every person, whatever his birth or occupation , shall develop the ability and have the opportunity to take part. Its motive is individualism on the one hand and voluntary public service on the other— the welfare and development of the individual and of all individuals. The wealth of a democracy lies in its people, not in its government or its goods. The product of democracy is self-acting men and women. The wellbeing and progress of society require that every citizen, of whatever age, Democracy, What It Is 11. From What Is Democracy? (Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing, 1918), 35–43. The word democracy, implicit in the original chapter title, has been added to the essay title here for clarity. “Democracy, What It Is” 163 may have the opportunity to discover himself or herself and to make use of himself largely in his own way. Any theory of the state as the end of society or as the motive of government leads away from democracy as darkness leads away from light. It may be said that the State can bequeath privileges to its people and can develop the highest forms of prosperity; very good, yet its very perfection is its condemnation, its strength is its weakness, and it will explode of its own pressure. The citizen must be able to think of himself in other terms than in terms of the state. The state is not the end of society any more than the church is the end of religion. A democratic society can exist only on the basis of active and enthusiastic public service. Essentially this service is voluntary, yet it may be required of those who do not volunteer. This service is far broader and deeper than military service alone. The service of democracy is not the blind allegiance to an autocrat, whether that autocrat is a state, a party, or a king. Otherwise it is only subjugation . Democracy rests on living conditions and on civic opportunities. It is rooted in the daily life, in what a person is able to acquire in goods, in his intellectual progress, in what he is competent and at liberty to think, in his freedom of movement, in his spiritual aspiration, in his expression of himself. The person is to be placed in the most advantageous environment. If the person is to be placed in the most advantageous conditions and environment, so will he desire a similar privilege for his neighbor and voluntarily assume the responsibility of which I speak. The yielding of advantage to another, the giving up of granted “rights” that another may have a larger life, are in the very essence of the democratic state. As the man and the woman and child are part of the social order, so must the social order be cohesive; otherwise it is anarchy. Democracy is highly organic; but its organization is for the good of all, not for the propagation of a party or the maintenance of a dominating family, or for power or supremacy or dynasty, or for any other conquest than the conquest of the soul. Overhead dominion not delegated by the people is obviated or eliminated. Its laws will be powerful and effective because they rest in the will of the people. It is the special privilege of the...

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