ARISTOCRACY AND POLITICS 



Further Discussion of Mr. AUeyne Ireland's Article 



Prescott F. Hall 



MR. ALLEYNE IRELAND'S 

 article "A Biological View of 

 Politics, ' ' in the December num- 

 ber of the Journal, states a 

 view with which many serious students 

 are in sympathy, but which few have 

 the courage to state. I say "courage" 

 because the opposite view is so universal 

 in popular discussion that it seems to 

 be crying in the wilderness to preach 

 against it. 



The widespread and fatuous belief in 

 universal suffrage and in what Goncourt 

 called the "barbarism of number" is 

 largely due, I think, to the increasing 

 prevalence of a new psychological type. 

 For lack of a better term I have coined 

 the word "expansile" to designate it. 

 Just as we have "motiles," "audiles" 

 and "visuels," depending upon which 

 sense is most active, so we have "expan- 

 siles," whose characteristic is that they 

 are the victims of any idea which is 

 broader or more inclusive quantitatively 

 than some other. What bodily variation 

 is correlated with this is not clear ; but it 

 may be a symbol, in the psycho-analytic 

 sense, of claustrophobia, and may signify 

 a reaction from the increasing urban 

 life. The expansile tendency is es- 

 pecially marked in the desire for 

 "equality" of any kind, this being a 

 species of inclusiveness. In fact, in 

 some persons, the lust for equality 

 becomes a form of paranoia. Thus, 

 if the discussion is of suffrage, everyone 

 should have a vote ; if of wages, everyone 

 should have an equal wage ; if of educa- 

 tion, everyone should have an equal 

 opportunity. The idea of proportional 

 opportunity, by which those most 

 gifted should have the best chance, is 

 obnoxious to the expansile. The kind 

 of thing often expressed in the phrase 

 "brotherhood of man" implies the 

 maximum of expansion and equality; 

 although logically altruism is perfectly 

 consistent with inequality. 



166 



The most disastrous example of false 

 reasoning under the influence of the 

 expansile tendency was provided by the 

 French Revolution. It is well known 

 that certain Masonic societies had a 

 good deal to do with this event, notably 

 the Grand Orient of France, and the 

 Philath etes of Paris organized by Caglio- 

 stro. The false reasoning consisted in 

 assuming that certain principles of 

 equality, which had worked very well 

 among the picked and chosen members 

 of the lodges, could be extended at a 

 stroke to the whole population of France. 

 The writers of our Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence and Constitution, being Ma- 

 sons, adopted the language of these 

 principles when this country started on 

 its separate existence. Fortunately, the 

 population of the United States at that 

 time consisted of picked specimens of 

 the Nordic race, selected by the perils 

 of voyaging hither and of exploiting a 

 new country. These people had sense 

 enough to entrust the management of 

 their affairs to the most capable among 

 them; so that, for some sixty or seventy 

 years the government, although demo- 

 cratic in form, was aristocratic in fact. 

 At the present time this is no longer 

 true. Respect for intelligence and 

 ability have so far disappeared that it is 

 almost impossible for a strong and able 

 man of independent views to be elected 

 to high office. To get into office, a man 

 must now play the demagogue. 



The result is a lowering both of ideals 

 and of execution. The popular opinion 

 of the masses must be consulted at every 

 step. Amiel says: "The stupidity of 

 the Demos is equalled only by its pre- 

 sumption. It is an adolescent who has 

 power but cannot attain reason . . . 

 Democracy rests on the legal fiction that 

 the majority has not only power but 

 reason, that it possesses wisdom as well 

 as legal rights . . . The masses will 

 always be below the average, . . . and 



