From PowerBlog: Here is an open letter from Alexis DeToqueville to President Barack Obama and the American People:
I think that the oppression threatening democracies will not be like anything there has been in the world before….
I see an innumerable crowd of men, all alike and equal, turned in upon themselves in a restless search for those petty, vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls….
Above these men stands an immense and protective power which alone is responsible for looking after their enjoyments and watching over their destiny. It is absolute, meticulous, ordered, provident, and kindly disposed. It would be like a fatherly authority, if, fatherlike, its aim were to prepare men for manhood, but it seeks only to keep them in perpetual childhood; it prefers its citizens to enjoy themselves provided they have only enjoyment in mind. It works readily for their happiness but it wishes to be the only provider and judge of it. It provides their security, anticipates and guarantees their needs, supplies their pleasures, directs their principal concerns, manages their industry, regulates their estates, divides their inheritances….
Thus, it reduces daily the value and frequency of the exercise of free choice; it restricts the activity of free will within a narrower range and gradually removes autonomy itself from each citizen. Equality has prepared men for all this, inclining them to tolerate all these things and often even to see them as a blessing.
Thus, the ruling power, having taken each citizen one by one into its powerful grasp and having molded him to its own liking, spreads its arms over the whole of society, covering the surface of social life with a network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules through which even the most original minds and the most energetic of spirits cannot reach the light in order to rise above the crowd. It does not break men’s wills but it does soften, bend, and control them; rarely does it force men to act but it constantly opposes what actions they perform; it does not destroy the start of anything but it stands in its way; it does not tyrannize but it inhibits, represses, drains, snuffs out, dulls so much effort that finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a flock of timid and hardworking animals with the government as shepherd.
I have always believed that this type of organized, gentle, and peaceful enslavement just described could link up more easily than imagined with some of the external forms of freedom and that it would not be impossible for it to take hold in the very shadow of the sovereignty of this people.
Alexis De Tocqueville, 1840.
Democracy in America, pp. 805-6.
Showing posts with label Democracy in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democracy in America. Show all posts
Thoughts on American Exceptionalism
After reading this excellent post on American exceptionalism this morning, Kevin and I started pondering and brainstorming about what makes America exceptional. We came up with this - America has an anti-government constitution with a unique longevity. America is fundamentally not a territory or a political entity, but an idea, and the idea is personal freedom. It is the establishment of a limited government to protect freedom, and it is founded on the idea that because everyone is equal, everyone has the same right to be protected from infringements on their freedom.
The problem with leftist utopian visions is that they confuse the premises with the conclusion. They take equality to be the goal, the finish line, rather than the starting point, the fundamental premise. Liberals use the idea of equality to justify the exercise of a will to power and the expansion of government to address inequalities as if they were always the result of some unjust exercise of power on the part of individuals which should be checked by government n service to the common good. But equality is not where we are supposed to end up, but where we start. We are all already equal by our God-given human nature. The idea of equality is in service to the idea of freedom, not the other way around, and it is an abuse of the idea of equality to pit it against individual liberty to the detriment of the latter. America is and has been exceptional in its history of holding fast to this basic idea of freedom, while other western democracies have been seduced by an excessive egalitarianism and lost the clarity of their own visions of human liberty. It may be that liberty is a means value, not an end in itself, but if that is so, it is not a means to the realization of total equality, that is, equality of economic conditions, equality of achievement, the equality of results, the equality of outcome. Liberty is the means to the common good, to human happiness. Equality is the starting condition., and the justification for liberty, not its purpose.
Dr. Walter E. Williams stated, “If you read through all the statements by the Founders and the framers of the Constitution, it’s very much anti-government. Matter of fact, if you read through the Constitution and the first ten Amendments, you would conclude that it was a very anti-government document. That is, the negative phrases used by the Founders against the Congress of the United States showed their deep distrust. The Bill of Rights says Congress shall not disparage, Congress shall not abridge, Congress shall not prohibit, Congress shall make no law, blah, blah, blah. It reflected a deep suspicion of government.
And if you look through history, government has been the enemy of the people. As brutal as the wars were in the 20th Century, where tens of millions of people were slaughtered—World War II, the 60 million; then World War I, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War—the total loss of life through wars pales in comparison with the number of people murdered by their own governments. You can start out with the Soviet Union: well over 100 million people were killed. Or the slaughter of the Armenians by the Turks, and the millions of people slaughtered by Hitler through extermination camps and things like this.”
The concept of American exceptionalism was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville identified five values crucial to America's success as a democratic republic: (1) liberty (2) egalitarianism, (3) individualism, (4)populism and (5) laissez-faire.
Tocqueville, stated, “I HAVE already pointed out the distinction between a centralized government and a centralized administration. The former exists in America, but the latter is nearly unknown there. If the directing power of the American communities had both these instruments of government at is disposal and united the habit of executing its commands to the right of commanding; if, after having established the general principles of government, it descended to the details of their application; and if, having regulated the great interests of the country, it could descend to the circle of individual interests, freedom would soon be banished from the New World.”
Today, the Leftists are trying to transform our country and our government into a centralized administration which ultimately leads to tyranny.
The problem with leftist utopian visions is that they confuse the premises with the conclusion. They take equality to be the goal, the finish line, rather than the starting point, the fundamental premise. Liberals use the idea of equality to justify the exercise of a will to power and the expansion of government to address inequalities as if they were always the result of some unjust exercise of power on the part of individuals which should be checked by government n service to the common good. But equality is not where we are supposed to end up, but where we start. We are all already equal by our God-given human nature. The idea of equality is in service to the idea of freedom, not the other way around, and it is an abuse of the idea of equality to pit it against individual liberty to the detriment of the latter. America is and has been exceptional in its history of holding fast to this basic idea of freedom, while other western democracies have been seduced by an excessive egalitarianism and lost the clarity of their own visions of human liberty. It may be that liberty is a means value, not an end in itself, but if that is so, it is not a means to the realization of total equality, that is, equality of economic conditions, equality of achievement, the equality of results, the equality of outcome. Liberty is the means to the common good, to human happiness. Equality is the starting condition., and the justification for liberty, not its purpose.
Dr. Walter E. Williams stated, “If you read through all the statements by the Founders and the framers of the Constitution, it’s very much anti-government. Matter of fact, if you read through the Constitution and the first ten Amendments, you would conclude that it was a very anti-government document. That is, the negative phrases used by the Founders against the Congress of the United States showed their deep distrust. The Bill of Rights says Congress shall not disparage, Congress shall not abridge, Congress shall not prohibit, Congress shall make no law, blah, blah, blah. It reflected a deep suspicion of government.
And if you look through history, government has been the enemy of the people. As brutal as the wars were in the 20th Century, where tens of millions of people were slaughtered—World War II, the 60 million; then World War I, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War—the total loss of life through wars pales in comparison with the number of people murdered by their own governments. You can start out with the Soviet Union: well over 100 million people were killed. Or the slaughter of the Armenians by the Turks, and the millions of people slaughtered by Hitler through extermination camps and things like this.”
The concept of American exceptionalism was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville. In Democracy in America, Tocqueville identified five values crucial to America's success as a democratic republic: (1) liberty (2) egalitarianism, (3) individualism, (4)populism and (5) laissez-faire.
Tocqueville, stated, “I HAVE already pointed out the distinction between a centralized government and a centralized administration. The former exists in America, but the latter is nearly unknown there. If the directing power of the American communities had both these instruments of government at is disposal and united the habit of executing its commands to the right of commanding; if, after having established the general principles of government, it descended to the details of their application; and if, having regulated the great interests of the country, it could descend to the circle of individual interests, freedom would soon be banished from the New World.”
Today, the Leftists are trying to transform our country and our government into a centralized administration which ultimately leads to tyranny.
Reflections On Chapter Three of Democracy in America
During one of my sociology classes in college, I studied Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville. I recently reviewed the writings of Democracy in America again,and I found these two paragraphs quite interesting.
"It is not only the fortunes of men that are equal in America; even their acquirements partake in some degree of the same uniformity. I do not believe that there is a country in the world where, . in proportion to the population, there are so few ignorant and at the same time so few learned individuals. Primary instruction is within the reach of everybody; superior instruction is scarcely to be obtained by any. This is not surprising; it is, in fact, the necessary consequence of what I have advanced above. Almost all the Americans are in easy circumstances and can therefore obtain the first elements of human knowledge."
"In America there are but few wealthy persons; nearly all Americans have to take a profession. Now, every profession requires an apprenticeship. The Americans can devote to general education only the early years of life. At fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education generally ends at the age when ours begins. If it is continued beyond that point, it aims only towards a particular specialized and profitable purpose; one studies science as one takes up a business; and one takes up only those applications whose immediate practicality is recognized."
I believe that there are quite a few similarities in these two paragraphs between America in the 19th Century and America of today. Do you believe that in present day every person has the opportunity to achieve success as it is mentioned above? It seems to me that today education is highly accessible to children in both primary and high schools, but is difficult to attain a college degree because of the increase of costs of attending college. De Toqueville states that in the 1800's primary instruction is within reach of everyone, but yet there were so few learned individuals. Are todays college financial burdens similar to the educational constraints of De Tocqueville's America? Do you see any other similarities between De Tocqueville's America and America today?
"It is not only the fortunes of men that are equal in America; even their acquirements partake in some degree of the same uniformity. I do not believe that there is a country in the world where, . in proportion to the population, there are so few ignorant and at the same time so few learned individuals. Primary instruction is within the reach of everybody; superior instruction is scarcely to be obtained by any. This is not surprising; it is, in fact, the necessary consequence of what I have advanced above. Almost all the Americans are in easy circumstances and can therefore obtain the first elements of human knowledge."
"In America there are but few wealthy persons; nearly all Americans have to take a profession. Now, every profession requires an apprenticeship. The Americans can devote to general education only the early years of life. At fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education generally ends at the age when ours begins. If it is continued beyond that point, it aims only towards a particular specialized and profitable purpose; one studies science as one takes up a business; and one takes up only those applications whose immediate practicality is recognized."
I believe that there are quite a few similarities in these two paragraphs between America in the 19th Century and America of today. Do you believe that in present day every person has the opportunity to achieve success as it is mentioned above? It seems to me that today education is highly accessible to children in both primary and high schools, but is difficult to attain a college degree because of the increase of costs of attending college. De Toqueville states that in the 1800's primary instruction is within reach of everyone, but yet there were so few learned individuals. Are todays college financial burdens similar to the educational constraints of De Tocqueville's America? Do you see any other similarities between De Tocqueville's America and America today?
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