RULES AND RULINGS: GOVERNMENT BY CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED          
 111

   Section 22, paragraph 2, of Mason's Manual, and sec. 512, par. 6, of the
same authority, clearly point out that a two-thirds vote requirement not
im-
posed by the state's constitution only prevails because the majority voluntar-
ily pledges itself not to act unless it obtains the approval of two-thirds
of the
membership:
      [Section 22] 2. A majority does not have power to make a rule which
cannot be
    modified or repealed by a majority. If a majority of an official public
body has authority
    in the first instance to pass a rule, it has authority to annul or repeal
the same rule. Rules
    which can be adopted by a majority vote can be repealed or annulled by
the same vote,
    even a rule which provides that no rule can be repealed or amended without
a vote
    greater than a majority.
      [Section 512] 6. A deliberative body, whether a state legislature,
city council, or ad-
    ministrative board, cannot by its own act or rule require a two-thirds
vote to take any
    action where the constitution or controlling authority requires only
a majority vote.
    Duties and responsibilities imposed on a public body are, of necessity,
to be exercised by
    a majority of that body unless otherwise provided by the power establishing
the body.
    To require a two-thirds vote, for example, to take any action would be
to give to one-
    third of the members the power to defeat the action and amount to a delegation
of the
    powers of the body to a minority.
    Clearly, Paul Mason's conclusion is incontrovertible. Majority rule is
the
essence of democracy. Why, then, is that fundamental truth so alien to the
"good government" reformers? Their pet idea has not been heard
(so they
say); they circulate a petition; they let "the people" decide -
and the very
basic principle of democracy, majority rule, is no more because an advocate
of reform thought decisions by two-thirds votes were a good idea.
   Whatever faults advocates of "direct" democracy perceive in
representa-
tive government, lack of information should not, in fairness, be among them.
Citizens have their own problems. The media does a creditable job offering
to readers and listeners reliable information on which informed decisions
can
be based, but many voters just do not have the time to absorb all that infor-
mation in addition to whatever other news they need to know for survival
in a
competitive world.
   The elected representatives of the people, on the other hand, are responsi-
ble for making informed decisions on political issues. They will digest all
of
the media information and, in addition, will seek out whatever else they
find
necessary to make each decision. But, when the time to make the decision
comes, the decision makers must be treated as equals. Shifting minorities
cannot be invested with veto power. Only the informed consensus of a ma-
jority can ultimately guarantee the continued flourishing of democratic
government.



                               CHAPTER 2
                      Sources of Legislative Rules

   Many years ago, the story goes, there was a democratic society with repre-
sentative government. That society, the story continues, had great respect
for
ideas; especially for ideas expressed as proposals to be considered by its
law-