Tripartitism and Regional War Labor Boards

Abstract

The essentials of modern democratic government, like the essentials of learning, include three Rs representation, responsibility, and responsiveness. The formal American constitution today provides for direct representation in the House and Senate and indirect representation in the Presidency. It provides for responsibility to the electorate and to the collateral organs of government (under threat of refusal to seat, expulsion, or impeachment and conviction). It results in the responsiveness of the President and Congress to changing social pressures. The constitutional offices alone cannot provide representation, responsibility, and responsiveness to the extent necessary for the survival of democracy today. The complexities of modern society make it not only necessary but also wise that most Congressional legislation be broad in scope. Yet broad legislation can mirror only the general public temper. And a vote at the polls cannot reflect opinion on all rules and regulations that daily affect individuals and socio-economic groups. Neither can executive orders keep detailed pace with the constantly developing social institutions that they affect. If American government is to use adequately the beneficence of the trinity of R's, active reflection of group opinion and of regional variations in the national pattern must be encouraged. Administration is dynamic, but constitutional elections come at most every two years. Through the administrative officialdom, as well as through the constitutional offices, government may provide representation, responsibility, and responsiveness. To a limited extent, the administrative hierarchy now permits the actual representation of economic groups and of geographic areas. It provides for responsibility by the chain of command culminating in the President and Congress, by established legal procedures, by a critical free press. It results in a restricted responsiveness to group and regional needs.