Politics is defined as "the science of government," and in the light of this definition it is peculiarly the field of action for Christian Scientists, for they know that God alone governs, and the science which deals with God's relation to His idea, man, is really the science of government, or the only true politics. If each individual man and woman were completely in accord with divine government, we should have the perfection of politics made manifest, and there would then be no need for the ordinary human agencies, organizations, and activities which are commonly considered under the term.
The narrower sense of politics is established for the purpose of guiding the policy of a nation, state, or community; in other words, it is a method of administering public business. It is carried on by means of legitimate organizations through which the people can be informed as to the business in hand, and may in turn express their will regarding that business. As the public business is in fact the business of each person comprised in the aggregation of individuals which constitutes the public, intelligent participation and cooperation should be the rule; otherwise, what should be the expression of the will of the majority becomes in effect the expression of the determination of the active few.
We have all learned, in the process of demonstrating our knowledge of Christian Science, that it is rarely those qualities of thought allied with evil which luxuriate in idleness. The shepherd may relax his attention to his work, or lose himself in sleep; the wolf is always alert. In like manner, the lack of intelligent attention to public business, especially in local matters, has often left it in the hands and under the control of those whose only conception of politics is that of influencing the voters to place certain individuals in a position to distribute patronage. Their whole idea is, as Milton phrased it, "to mold the subjection of the people to the length of the foot that is to tread on their necks." The community dweller who is loudest in his condemnation of prevalent conditions is not infrequently the one who has been, time after time, "too busy to vote," or whose concept of active political life is to drop into the polling place long enough to put a cross in the party circle, without for a moment considering the fitness of the applicants for office.
