¶8 If one defines ‘democracy’ as the government of the people by themselves, this is a veritable impossibility, a thing that cannot even have a simple factual existence, no more in our epoch than in any other;1 one must not let oneself be deceived by words, and it is contradictory to admit that the same men could be at once governors and governed, because, to employ Aristotelian language, the same being cannot be ‘in act’ and ‘in potency’ at the same time and under the same relation.2 Here there is a relation that necessarily supposes two terms in presence: there could not be governed if there were not also governors, even if these are illegitimate and without any right to power other than that which they have attributed to themselves; but the great cleverness of the leaders in the modern world is to make the people believe that they govern themselves;3 and the people allow themselves to be persuaded all the more willingly because they are flattered by it and because, moreover, they are incapable of reflecting enough to see what is impossible in it. It is to create this illusion that ‘universal suffrage’ was invented:4 it is the opinion of the majority that is supposed to make the law; but what is not noticed is that opinion is something that can very easily be directed and modified;5 one can always, by means of appropriate suggestions, provoke in it currents going in one determined direction or another; we no longer remember who spoke of ‘manufacturing opinion’,6 and this expression is perfectly just, although it must be said, moreover, that it is not always the apparent leaders who have in reality at their disposal the means necessary to obtain this result. This last remark no doubt gives the reason why the incompetence of the most ‘prominent’ politicians seems to have only a very relative importance;7 but, since it is not a question here of dismantling the workings of what one might call the ‘governing machine’, we shall confine ourselves to pointing out that this incompetence itself offers the advantage of maintaining the illusion of which we have just spoken: it is only under these conditions, in fact, that the politicians in question can appear as the emanation of the majority, thus being in its image, for the majority, on whatever subject it is called upon to give its opinion, is always constituted by the incompetent, whose number is incomparably greater than that of men who are capable of pronouncing themselves in perfect knowledge of the facts.8
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Summary

Guénon argues that defining democracy as the people governing themselves is an impossibility, since the same people cannot be both governors and governed, as a being cannot be ‘in act’ and ‘in potency’ simultaneously under the same relation. He observes that modern leaders cleverly make the people believe they govern themselves, an illusion the people readily accept out of flattery and their own inability to reflect properly. Universal suffrage was invented to create this illusion, with majority opinion supposedly making the law, but opinion can easily be directed and modified through suggestion. He notes that the incompetence of prominent politicians actually serves to maintain the illusion, because they appear as an emanation of the majority, and the majority on any subject is always composed of the incompetent, who vastly outnumber those capable of judging in full knowledge of the facts.

General notes

  1. gouvernement du peuple par lui-même — Rendered as ‘government of the people by themselves’. Guénon here underlines the logical impossibility of collective self-government. This classic definition of direct democracy is for him a contradiction in terms, because it presupposes that the same individuals can be simultaneously governors and governed. ↩︎
  2. « en acte » et « en puissance » — Rendered as ‘in act’ and ‘in potency’. Guénon appeals to Aristotelian terminology: energeia (actuality) and dynamis (potentiality). A being cannot be simultaneously what it actually is (act) and what it can become (potency) under the same relation. To govern is an act; to be governed is a potency or passivity. The two states are incompatible for the same subject at the same moment. ↩︎
  3. faire croire au peuple qu’il se gouverne lui-même — Rendered as ‘to make the people believe that they govern themselves’. Guénon here identifies the fundamental mechanism of democratic manipulation: the illusion of popular autonomy masks the reality of domination by a ruling élite. The people do not govern, but they are made to believe that they govern in order to obtain their passive consent. ↩︎
  4. « suffrage universel » — Rendered as ‘universal suffrage’. Guénon considers universal suffrage not as an instrument of real popular sovereignty, but as a device of collective suggestion intended to create the illusion that the will of the people is expressed. The quotation marks indicate that he refuses to recognise in this procedure any truly ‘universal’ or legitimate character. ↩︎
  5. l’opinion est quelque chose que l’on peut très facilement diriger et modifier — Rendered as ‘opinion is something that can very easily be directed and modified’. Guénon here anticipates modern theories of communication and propaganda. Public opinion is not a spontaneous expression of the collective will, but a malleable paste that organised interests can shape by appropriate techniques of suggestion. ↩︎
  6. « fabriquer l’opinion » — Rendered as ‘manufacturing opinion’. This expression is attributed to various early 20th-century thinkers, notably Walter Lippmann (Public Opinion, 1922) and Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, who explicitly theorised the ‘engineering of consent’. Guénon uses this reference to show that the phenomenon is known to specialists, even if it remains hidden from the general public. ↩︎
  7. incompétence des politiciens les plus « en vue » — Rendered as ‘incompetence of the most “prominent” politicians’. Guénon explains the apparent paradox of political incompetence by the fact that real decisions are not taken by public figures (ministers, parliamentarians) but by occult or semi-occult instances that control them. Visible politicians are only puppets; their incompetence is therefore without consequence for the real course of affairs. ↩︎
  8. la majorité est toujours constituée par les incompétents — Rendered as ‘the majority is always constituted by the incompetent’. Guénon states here a statistical and traditional principle: real competence is always the apanage of a minority. Consequently, any procedure that relies upon majority opinion necessarily institutes the reign of incompetence. Politicians, in order to be ‘in the image’ of the majority, must themselves be incompetent. ↩︎