Qualifications for Office Quotes
This is an important quotation because it was believed by most of the Founding Fathers and the American public until relatively recently. Presidential candidates would not think of publicly campaigning. The view was that anyone who was ambitious for power and authority should not be trusted with it. The idea was first stated by Plato and has been a major view of Western politics since. Many still believe it, but no one has come up with a practical alternative in a large jurisdiction where there is no way to know about the possible candidates without their initiative. Earlier American presidential candidates, although they did not campaign as we know it, got associates to do their campaigning for them. At Presidential nominating conventions, candidates would not even attend. Abraham Lincoln for example never attended the convention at which he got nominated, but he had associates lining up delagates and he was managing their efforts behind the scenes.
Adlai Stevenson had just finished a particularly good speech at the University of Texas.
Although a right wing conservative, he shared the view of many liberals that it costs so much money and needs so many rich contacts to raise enough money to run for President, that the reality is beyond the reach of ordinary Americans. Since Harry Truman, all the Presidents have been affluent, and most millionaires.
When the Romans seemed to choose the same men again and again as their magistrates, they were told: Marcus Porcius Cato
Salisbury was a brilliant, effective prime minister, but he was a snob and not a democrat. See {639131}.
