Noting this change opens up a new perspective on the nature of
representative government. Two hundred years after modern political
representation was established, viewing citizens as the source
of power and as the assigners of office appears today as the natural
way of envisioning citizenship. Not only do we share the viewpoint
that prevailed at the end of the eighteenth century, but we are no
longer aware that we are thereby giving precedence to a particular
conception of citizenship over another. We have almost completely forgotten that, even under conditions where it is not possible for
everyone to participate in government, citizens can also be seen as
desirous of reaching office. We do not even think, therefore, of
inquiring into how offices, seen as scarce goods, are distributed
among citizens by representative institutions. The history of the
triumph of election suggests that by doing so we would deepen our
comprehension of representative government.