1933 Cedrus Yearbook

therefore as superior to the State. Dante tried to coordinate the views; Macchiavelli insisted upon complete severence of State and Church. Spinoza said might makes right; not until 1918 was the world convinced of the falsity of this notion. The Analycists ascribed to the words of the legal statutes themselves a certain inherent right to rule—a certain "legal fibre." Rousseau's Social- Contract theory, of French Revolutionary times regarded the individual as the possessor of cer- tain inalienable rights which can be surrendered only upon the guaranty of other beneficial duties to be performed by the State. Today, we believe that the basis of soyereignty rests not upon any artificial compact, but upon the solidarity which characterizes the common consciousness of men. "This forms a natural foundation, and its expres- sion in sovereign law is a natural manifestation." Twenty-two centuries ago, the first great political scientist, Aristotle, classifed the forms President; Peter Gibson Professor of Philosophy and of government by the numerical relation between Greek; A. B. Franklin College; A. M. Franklin College; those in power and their constituency. The gov- Ph. D. Franklin College; D. D.Tarkio College. W. R. McCHESNEY ernment may be a monarchy, governed by one; an aristocracy governed by a very few in proportion to the Whole population; or a democracy, governed by many. In general, this classifiction still holds good today. Aristotle further divided governments according to an ethical concept, asking the question, does the governing power seek to its own advantage, or to the advantage of the whole people? The answer to this question gives us not three, but six varieties of govern- ment, for each perfect form has a corresponding depraved form. The good government of one (Monarchy) is contrasted with the depraved form (Ty- ranny); The good government of a few (Aristocracy) is contrasted with the depraved form (Oligarchy); The good government of many (Democracy) is contrasted with the depraved form (Anarchy). Human frailties have permitted the establishment of a veritable law concerning the recurrent cycle of changes through which a normal government passes. First, it is Mon- archy, under a single strong man with sovereign power. Handed down to his children, it in time degenerates to Tyranny,as they forget his wise precepts. Atsome Runnymede, revolt occurs, and a princely few, public-spirited in their aims,set up an Aristrocracy. This early justness in an Aristrocracy always declines in the years of its dotage into selfish Olig- archy. Oligarchy,fatal to civil liberty, goads the people to revolution, with a Democracy as its almost inevitable result. Even Democracy has its old age of degeneracy—an old age in which it loses its early respectfor law,and its first amiability of mutual concession. License and Anarchy break out, and only aCaesar can bring it back to reason and order. Thus the cycle is completed, and the state is once more back at the job of cutting its legis- lative teeth. Our brief study here can only mention the problem that is perhaps the most fascinating of all: what shall be the sphere of government? To what limits shall the government's powers extend? Page Eight