PUBLIC OPINION by WALTER LIPPMANN TO FAYE LIPPMANN ...

of Utah. That in itself does not prove he is the best man to consult
about taxation. But the nurse may nevertheless determine for a while
what zoology the child shall learn, Mr. Smith will have much to say on
what the Constitution shall mean to his wife, his secretary, and perhaps
even to his parson, and who shall define the limits of Senator Smoot's
authority?
The priest, the lord of the manor, the captains and the kings, the
party leaders, the merchant, the boss, however these men are chosen,
whether by birth, inheritance, conquest or election, they and their
organized following administer human affairs. They are the officers,
and although the same man may be field marshal at home, second
lieutenant at the office, and scrub private in politics, although in
many
institutions the hierarchy of rank is vague or concealed, yet in every
institution that requires the cooperation of many persons, some such
hierarchy exists. [Footnote: _Cf._ M. Ostrogorski, _Democracy and the
Organization of Political Parties, passim;_ R. Michels, _Political
Parties,
passim;_ and Bryce, _Modern Democracies,_ particularly Chap.
LXXV; also Ross, _Principles of Sociology,_ Chaps. XXII-XXIV. ]
In American politics we call it a machine, or "the organization."
3
There are a number of important distinctions between the members of
the machine and the rank and file. The leaders, the steering committee
and the inner circle, are in direct contact with their environment.
They may, to be sure, have a very limited notion of what they ought to
define as the environment, but they are not dealing almost wholly with
abstractions. There are particular men they hope to see elected,
particular balance sheets they wish to see improved, concrete
objectives that must be attained. I do not mean that they escape the
human propensity to stereotyped vision. Their stereotypes often make
them absurd routineers. But whatever their limitations, the chiefs are
in actual contact with some crucial part of that larger environment.
They decide. They give orders. They bargain. And something definite,
perhaps not at all what they imagined, actually happens.
Their subordinates are not tied to them by a common conviction. That
is to say the lesser members of a machine do not dispose their loyalty
according to independent judgment about the wisdom of the leaders. In
the hierarchy each is dependent upon a superior and is in turn
superior to some class of his dependents. What holds the machine
together is a system of privileges. These may vary according to the
opportunities and the tastes of those who seek them, from nepotism and
patronage in all their aspects to clannishness, hero-worship or a
fixed idea. They vary from military rank in armies, through land and