2008 Errors – “Magruder’s American Government—California Edition”

 by Prentice Hall

1.  P. 4 has this statement, “Government is the institution through which a society makes and enforces its public policies.”  Is this what all governments do?  How do the “public  policies” of a “society” get formulated?  The book fails to tell us what a “public policy” is.  Is it an imposition of the government on the public, or what?  Missing is the essential element of government, the uncontested monopoly on physical force over the inhabitants.

2.  P. 5 has the statement, “In a democracy, the supreme authority rests with the people.”  That is not the reality anywhere.  It may be theory.

3.  P. 5 has the statement, “Government is among the oldest of all human inventions.”  So, government is an invention?  No invention was older.   What are the other “human inventions”?

4.  P. 5 has the statement, “The earliest known evidences of government date from ancient Egypt.”  No government anywhere before some people in Egypt at some unknown ancient time?

5.  P. 13 has the statement, “In a representative democracy, a small group of persons, chosen by the people to act as their representatives, express the popular will.”  This is totally unrealistic.  Elected government officials have never had any duty to represent any one person, any group, any majority of any districts, or anything at all.  The Constitution does not impose that duty on any elected person.  Nor is it exercised in practice.  In many elections, most of “the people” have not voted, let alone in an informed manner.

6.  P. 13 has the statement, “They [elected officials] are held accountable to the people for that conduct, especially at periodic elections.  …  To put it another way, representative democracy is government by popular consent—government with the consent of the governed.”  No action or policy of any specific elected official is held accountable by any election.   Elections are choices between candidates, all of whom are not personally liable for anything they do in the government.

7.  P. 13 has the statement, “Whatever the terms used, remember that in a democracy the people are sovereign.  They are the only source for any and all of government’s power.  In other words, the people rule.”  This is sheer theory.  It does not apply to American reality in any significant manner.  Just like in “Animal Farm”, some persons are much more equal and powerful in the government than others.  They impose their special interests on the others.  The general public does not act.  They are acted upon.