I. Best Form of Government (from Considerations on Representative Government)
Some accommodation is necessary for different circumstances. Ideally, representative democracy is the best form of government according to Mill. By encouraging the fullest possible participation by all citizens, representative democracy best accomplishes the fundamental task of the state, namely to organize and use the moral, intellectual, and practical abilities of the citizenry to serve the public good in the present and to promote advancement of these abilities in the future. The submissive citizenry characteristic of a despotic government does not insure that everyone’s interests will be taken into account and offers little hope that the moral, intellectual, and practical abilities of everyone will be utilized and developed.
There is no Rousseau-like optimism about people’s natural abilities and wisdom in Mill’s conclusions. (See Mill’s Considerations on Representative Government, especially chs. III-VII).
1. He worries about the tyranny of majorities over minorities and favors proportionate representation.
2. He advocates measures such as literacy tests for voting and granting of additional votes to the educated over the uneducated.
3. He takes the position that some people, due to lack of motivation or ability, are not ready for representative democracy.
