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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 67

Personal Representation a Right

Personal Representation a Right.

It will readily be conceded that if Parliament is to be a mirror of the mind of the nation, it is of the first importance that the whole nation, as far as may be, shall be represented; and that, since every man cannot be present in person, every man shall be able to point to some one man in Parliament as his representative. To contend that this personal representation is not a right inherent in freemen in democratic countries, or to argue that inasmuch as a majority must rule, the minority must go unrepresented, is in reality to contend that Government shall be by a minority. page 6 Parliament, let it be assumed, represents the majority of the voters of the country who have voted, but a majority of the Parliament rules the legislature and assumes the Government. Further: It is well understood that under party government a series of compromises within the governing party is essential to its existence—here, as elsewhere, a majority decides—so that in common practice we have the spectacle of a mere majority of a majority—the majority of a party which is a majority of the House—working under the guise of "the Government of the people by the will of its majority," when in reality the minority of the people, as represented, control.