Burke is completely against the adoption of democracy in France. At the time France was run with an absolute monarchy and had been for quite sometime. Burke believed that "by destroying at their pleasure the whole original fabric of their society; hazarding to leave to those who come after them, a ruin instead of an habitation" Burke felt that any change in the current absolute monarchy would result in individuals solely looking out for their own interest. That there needed to be some government above them to keep men humble and obedient.Burke believes that democracy and liberty for all would result in a return to the state of nature, or anarchy. With people arrogant to one another and thinking that they are the wisest and know the best way to run this country. Burke believed that people looking out for though own interest would only be a temporary interest before it led the country to shambles. "By this unprincipled facility of changing the state as often, and as much, and in as many ways as there are floating fancies and fashions, the whole chain and continuity of the commonwealth would be broken." Burke believed that democracy was continuously changing and therefore would not be able to exist. That whatever was preferred or fancied at that instant could become rule to the people.
Burke also believed that the end of absolute anarchy and a switch to democracy would lead to corruption and chaos. He didn't feel that the world as France knew it could maintain under a democracy. "Barbarism with regard to science and literature, unskillfulness with regard to arts and manufactures, would infallibly succeed to the want of steady education and settled principle." Burke felt that practices such as education would instead turn into corruption. The more knowledge a person had, the more able they were to corrupt other individuals.
In order to convince people to maintain an absolute monarchy, Burke discussed how government should be treated. People of a nation "should approach to the faults of the state as to the wounds of a father, with pious awe and trembling solitude." In other words, the problems of an absolute monarchy should be viewed as if they were faults of your father. Instead of changing these faults, as a child, we must wait and hope that the government makes the necessary changes to correct itself.
Burke basically argues should be very difficult to change and cannot be due to temporary fancies or fashions. To Burke government is a partnership that is formed through government links the living, dead, and the unborn. Therefore, any adjustments must be for the good of all involved, including those to come.
Burke discusses the current government as a "worthy offering on the high altar of universal praise." This notion is used to convince those reading it that the state is the only way to reach perfection in society. As a gift from above, who would dare attempt to change what God has handed down?
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Burke seems to be trying to get the point across that the government is something living, something growing. It can be a partner in business, but only that. It has, like a person, its own free will and can enter into and out of contracts as it decides, and does not need to interfere with commerce. Any faults that the state should have should be first be examined before we try to treat them. His interpretation of government seems to make it out to be a person with a free will, who occasionally needs treatment, but whose treatment should occur over a period of time and not all at once.
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