Summarized by cleangov
Senator J. William Fulbright:
Self-government by the people is not likely.
The history of the past 150 years demonstrates that the ideals put forth by the founders of the country, that self-governing democracies are capable of dealing with the problems facing us today, are not borne out in reality.
The folks in 1776 already had one of the freest countries on the planet, which stemmed from British law and tradition.
It’s practically impossible to build a free society, and man is not capable of constructing working institutions of government through reason alone.
It was public opinion, not the will of the elite, which set the terms of a peace after WWI which were very harsh toward Germany, and it was public opinion, not the will of the elite, which sat by and did nothing while Germany came back to life and armed itself, and finally woke up to a WWII that never should have happened.
Because politicians need to be reelected, they must of necessity bend to public opinion, and not necessarily adhere to principle or what is right.
We need to educate our electorate, but we don’t and that is shameful.
The goals should be set by the citizens, but the elite should be left in charge of how to achieve those goals. Democracy is better than dictatorships because it doesn’t let ruling elites make the key moral and value decisions.
Basically, man wants to be free, and this is the basis of classical liberalism. This is valid.
It is up to education to prepare the citizen to govern himself, and to participate in self-government.
Freedom needs some order created by, or held in place by, the State, in order to be free.
We need to give more power to the Executive Branch of government and take away power from the Legislative Branch when it comes to formulating and executing foreign policy, because the factors of dealing with the nations of the world are so complex and things happen so quickly, that the Legislative Branch is incapable of acting promptly. Plus, legislators are subject to pressures stemming from sometimes irrational public opinion.