Marjorie Tallman - Dictionary of Civics and Government

DICTIONARY OF CIVICS AND GOVERNMENT

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

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Originally published by Philosophical Library

Copyright 1953 by PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY, INC.

First Rowman & Littlefield paperback edition 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

ISBN: 978-1-4422-3396-6 (pbk. : alk paper)

ISBN: 978-1-4422-3397-3 (electronic)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

by

Harry Elmer Barnes

Today, the world trembles or totters on the rim of the abyss as the result of conflicts and struggles between rival political systems. The so-called free nations stand opposed to those which represent various types and shades of totalitarianism.

If the free nations are to survive in this ordeal, democracy must be made more honest and efficient. To bring about any such happy and salutary result, we must have an informed electorate. The voters must have available to them an accurate and extensive body of information which touches upon and encompasses the whole broad field of political experience and its cogent borderlands. Today, we are exposed to a vast and ever-increasing mass of verbiage on public questions which reaches us through our eyes in newspapers, moving pictures and television, and through our ears over the radio. There is no dearth of material available, but it all too often lacks both technical knowledge and precision in terminology, even when there is no intent to deceive or mislead the populace.

Political education and discussion will hardly produce any decisive improvement in our democratic public life unless both the disseminators of information and their audiences actually know what they are talking about and realize its import for our welfare. Words may produce mental tyranny, as Stuart Chase has suggested, but they are likely also to create disaster if the verbiage is compounded of factual ignorance and semantic obsolescence. Precise knowledge is necessary both to enable us to detect false ideologies and erratic programs and to make it possible for us to recognize and follow sound advice.

And it is not merely a matter of mastering the terminology of politics and allied disciplines at any given moment. The problems and responsibilities are dynamic. Our culture of today, in a mechanized and electronic age, is one which changes rapidly, and political institutions and practices, though they lag behind mechanical changes, are none the less being altered and extended as never before in human experience. A man who was relatively well informed on public issues, agencies and institutions a generation ago is a babe in the semantic and functional woods today if he fails to keep up with the political procession.

Hence, there is a very real and practical need for a book which constitutes a comprehensive and reliable compendium of political, economic, sociological and educational concepts and terminology, thoroughly attuned to events and issues as they stand before us at the mid-century. Miss Marjorie Tallman has here produced such a booka most commendable performance which gives evidence of professional industry, intellectual acumen, and precision of statement. To it the student and the alert citizen alike can turn for rapid and convenient reference about any subject which is likely to arise in the public life of our time. There is no longer any excuse for either blank ignorance or haziness of thought and information on our public issues. The book can well serve as a major item of armament in the intellectual arsenal of our democracy.

With the increasing wave of current disclosures which have alarmingly revealed the vulnerability of those democratic nations which still remain outside the iron curtains to the infiltration of foreign and undemocratic ideologies, it has become more and more apparent that extreme vigilance must be exercised to counteract such subversive activities. This requires, as we have pointed out above, wide, exact, and up-to-date information.

The student of government or the alert citizen who has already shown some concern or gained some experience on the city, state or federal level is likely to find this volume of great value and convenience. Here, he or she may gain quickly and accurately a fuller knowledge and more penetrating insight into the operation of our ever more complicated democratic processes, presented as they are in this compendium in their bare essentials and made readily available. For example, the machinery employed in the operations of our legislative bodies is admirably summed up in such items as those describing standing committees, the ranking of members of committees, the manner in which bills are handledin committees, the complicated application of the cloture rule, and the provisions dealing with the disciplining of members of Congress or state legislatures. Non-votingthe failure of the public to exercise the right of suffragethreatens the vitality of American democracy. The problems connected with this crucial matter are illuminated by gaining familiarity with the ballot, voting qualifications, electoral laws and the like.

Political problems are inseparably linked to economic issues, and this Dictionary enables the student or citizen to find his way clearly through this maze. For example, the much discussed farm problem is clarified and simplified by a concise description of the parity program and by an outline of the tenets of and aspirations of the Farm Bloc. We can also follow with intelligence and insight the multitude of regulations to which business is subjected and comprehend better the nature and extent of the ever-increasing group of federal agencies which have the responsibility of protecting the consumer and the investor. The ever-growing burden of taxation oppresses everyone above the level of the indigent classes. The situation can be better understood by reference to the types and incidence of taxation and the laws and agencies involved in the collection of taxes.

The increasing role of labor in government is expressed in the legislation, boards and agencies which seek to adjust the interests of labor to those of the employer and the public. Full coverage is given to the extensive protection of the working population and the dependent groups through labor legislation, social security laws, and administrative agencies. The details connected with the increasingly critical and important problem of minority rights and civil liberties are set forth adequately and in illuminating fashion.

For better or worse, the United States has vastly extended its interests and responsibilities over the face of the planet until, today, international issues often seem to overshadow domestic problems. This has opened a whole new vista of contacts, agencies, and activities which receive thorough recognition and coverage in this bookone of the more novel aspects of the compendium. In no other realm of public life is there greater need for modernizing our perspective and terminology and widening our horizons.