Dr. Stockman's critique of majority rule and democracy

¶ … Enemy of the People, Act

Scene. Dr. Stockman's school house. The ragamuffin students all sit in a semicircle, while he sits behind a large wooden desk. As the curtain rises, he is already in the middle of a lecture.)

STOCKMAN:... And so you can see how the political system has failed. The majority cannot rule -- it is incapable of ruling. The majority is nothing but a trained dog which the rulers keep at their sides to frighten the lone righteous intellectual. The majority rules? This is nothing more or less than rule by mob, and history has always shown us that mobs are not guided by reason or by the best interest of society, but by the inflaming words of one or two people, or even of an idea. Mobs -- majorities -- are the ones who perform lynchings, who kill prophets, who tear down their own civilizations in blind rages. We should not be ruled by the majority, but by intellect and sense. For not only does the majority serve as nothing more or less than a tool in the hands of the political leaders, it also encourages them to listen to nothing but their own conservatism. The majority, being large, is slow to change -- and so leaders are encouraged to be slow to change. They become complacent in their rules. (Petra enters, standing near the doorway) I tell you again, only a minority of people are intelligent and thoughtful -- all others are either stupid by nature and breeding, or by choice. If only a minority are intelligent, than NO majority, however well formed, can ever be comprised of the most intelligent decision makers. It stands to reason -- Petra, dear, did you want something?

PETRA: You are brilliant as always father... But mother says there is an important letter for you.

STOCKMAN: How is Miss Shelley today?

PETRA: Her condition appears to be improving -- though I fear the Rabbi is getting far worse.

STOCKMAN: Give me the letter. (he reads it)

Aha! You see, students, how standing alone can prove itself. This is a letter from an important lawyer in London, who represents the estates of Mr. And Mrs. Fraudian... It appears they will be suing the commissioners of the baths for the costs of medical care, and the wrongful death of the wife from typhoid. They wish me to testify. Why, when this hits the papers -- and surely it will, in London in nowhere else -- then we will see how the market regulates these things!

You will observe how easily the majority is swayed, even sometimes with good reason. When they discover that these cesspools have been killing people, why certainly something will come of that!

PETRA: Oh, and father-- surely the Rabbi will die as well, and then there will be even more publicity!

STOCKMAN: We can only hope, my dear.

PETRA: Miss Shelley says she plans on writing about this episode for a women's health magazine in Paris!

PETRA: Father... what are you going to do about the letter?

STOCKMAN: Of course, I must respond! I must go to London and testify about the sickness that is eating up our fair town... And not just the sickness of the baths, but the sickness of the soul! The syncopathy, the blinded majority, the corrupted leaders (of which my brother is only the worst)

PETRA: Hurrah!

STUDENT: Will they listen in London? Will they respond as they did here, and label you an enemy of the people?

STOCKMAN: Surely not! Surely in London, at least, they have tamed the wild majority, subjugated it to the will of their masters -- what other purpose could they have for their towers and their famous pillories?

STUDENT #2: Do you speak of the tower as a good thing... Of the subjugation of the masses by force?

STOCKMAN: By the aristocrats, those blue-blooded curs... never! But by men of science -- by men of technology, yes, indeed. The ideal political system is not the system of liberal democracy. I spit upon the parties and parodies of democracy! The ideal political system is a... why, there is not even a word for it! One must create a new word, for it has never been before. I would suggest... A technocracy! Rule by technicians, by the few and the wise who understand the needs of society and can plan it and guide it. E ven as a stockyard or a farm is not run by voting pigs and cattle, but by the ordered consideration of the farmer, so society should not be run by the masses, but by those with vision and dedication to its future -- by the educated, by the uninvested... Until society is run like a perfect farm, oiled and systematic -- (Student #2 raises his hand) -- until society is run like a perfect animal farm with the animals of the world answering to those who are wiser -- yes, Jared?

STUDENT #2 (Jared):

Doesn't your brother own a tannery?

STOCKMAN: I fail to see the point.