great thinkers, great ideas

128 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State

To synthesize Lipson’s ten chapters into a brief introduction

to the five great issues will not do justice to his analysis. He not

only introduced the issues but presented historical examples to

document his thesis and then presented cogent and insightful

commentary. Also, some of the material presented here will

differ in scope, emphasis and interpretation. However, the basic

concept is so important that if students can begin to understand

what the great issues are, what the basic premises are, and what

their particular goals are, then perhaps they will begin to recog­

nize what structures will yield the results they seek. Lipson

himself maintains that analyzing governmental issues through

the five great issues will” 1)...break down complex issues into

simple components, 2)...provide understanding of government

because it reveals the factors that undergo change and the area of

choice within which the changes occur, 3)...make the political

process meaningful by interpreting the actual forms and func­

tions of the state in the light of valued ideals.”

Elitism vs Egalitarianism

The question posed in the issue of elitism vs egalitarianism
deals with the problem of who should rule. The extreme position
of each of these views could be either “the best man or woman
in the state should rule,” or “every man, woman, and child should
rule.” As stated earlier, the issues are not usually addressed or
resolved by dealing with the extremes, but rather by leaning
towards one postulate or the other. Each of the postulates must
be justified on the basis of some premise, some liberal or
conservative view of the nature of man, the nature of the state,
the nature of the relationship between the two.
The elitist contends that men are not all alike. Some are better
than others. Some people are more intelligent, more capable,
better administrators, more deserving than others. If the govern­
ing of a state is important, and it is, then the best should govern.
Elitist theory requires that there must be criteria to determine
who should rule, and on the basis of those criteria, the rule of
those chosen is justified. Historically, nine criteria have been
used to justify rule by an elite. They are: