Chapter I: Front Matter

THE PHANTOM PUBLIC

BY
WALTER LIPPMANN

NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.

Printed in the U. S. A.

TO
LEARNED HAND

“_The Voice of the People has been said to be the voice of God:
and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it
is not true in fact._”—Alexander Hamilton, June 18, 1787, at the
Federal Convention (Yates’s notes, cited _Sources and Documents
Illustrating the American Revolution_, edited by S. G. Morison).

“... _consider ‘Government by Public Opinion’ as a formula.... It
is an admirable formula: but it presupposes, not only that public
opinion exists, but that on any particular question there is a
public opinion ready to decide the issue. Indeed, it presupposes
that the supreme statesman in democratic government is public
opinion. Many of the shortcomings of democratic government are
due to the fact that public opinion is not necessarily a great
statesman at all._”—From “Some Thoughts on Public Life,” a lecture
by Viscount Grey of Fallodon, February 3, 1923.

Contents

PART I

Chapter Page

I. The Disenchanted Man 13

II. The Unattainable Ideal 22

III. Agents and Bystanders 40

IV. What the Public Does 54

V. The Neutralization of Arbitrary Force 63

PART II

VI. The Question Aristotle Asked 77

VII. The Nature of a Problem 81

VIII. Social Contracts 95

IX. The Two Questions Before the Public 107

X. The Main Value of Public Debate 110

XI. The Defective Rule 115

XII. The Criteria of Reform 125

XIII. The Principles of Public Opinion 143

PART III

XIV. Society in Its Place 155

XV. Absentee Rulers 173

XVI. The Realms of Disorder 187

Index 201