Page:Back to the Republic.djvu/63

 and to some degree in the various States; and foreign countries were partially utilizing the lessons taught through the Constitution and the founding of the republic. Departures from the republic account for the complications and retrogressive tendencies of recent years.

The next most sacred thing about the Constitution is that it provided that the people could do two things only: first, vote for President once in four years; second, vote for a member of Congress from their district once in two years. You may read and reread the Constitution, and you cannot find another thing that the people are permitted to do. The Constitution provides for absolutely strict representative government and gives the people no voice in the solution of governmental problems save that of electing representatives to work out the problems. In other words, the Constitution applies the same common sense and judgment to working out the problems of government that is applied in other fields of activity in working out other problems.

This is wise, because the human race is so endowed by Providence that a small percentage of the people have more natural artistic ability than the remaining larger percentage; a small percentage of the people have more natural musical ability than the remaining larger percentage; a small