Monday, May 11, 2009

Observations of de Tocqueville that apply today, in spades.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Other de Tocqueville quotes:
America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

Life is to entered upon with courage.

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? ****Ask if the "justification" for cap-and-trade, or even a carbon tax, is the putative benefit to the environment or the substantive raising of a tax. Ask if a proposal to tax health benefits is for the (laudable) purpose of separating health insurance and employment ( as John McCain proposed ) OR for the purpose of getting more tax revenue.****

In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships. ****The Left hates "big corporations" although corporations are not people and actually consist of various stakeholders including management, employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders all of whom benefit according as the corporation is not disadvantaged. All these stakeholders, largely citizens, suffer as the corporation is impeded or hobbled or taxed and the benefits of regulation must be set against this disadvantage to people. The hatred of big corporations makes the Left natural friends of labor unions who largely view themselves as having contrary interests. Conversely, the Libertarians hate big government as inefficient, wasteful and intrusive into the lives of citizens, without countervailing value. *****

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. ****In the current instance, detailed response can be avoided and the answer to any question can be phrased as "We won." ****

It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too. ****Can one take this as a caution against "redistributionism" and "forced equalization of results" as producing a broad ( often close to the lowest ) common denominator? ****

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction. ****The Japanese want all nails to be at the same height and hammer down those that stand out, reaching stability when all are as low as they can get. This appears to be the goal of the present Administration. ****

The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express. ****It is important to see if ideas are really new or merely recycled ones that have been forgotten because the latest generation doesn't study history. Worse, if some of the so-called "new" ideas have already been shown not to work and those seeking to adopt them are unaware of the fact. ****

The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens. ****Not exactly an endorsement of nationalization and other encroachments by government on the private sector.****

The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people. ****This was true, is ordinarily true, when the press remains objective and is not in love with political factions and politicians. ****

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through. ****This might be taken to be straightforwardly true as witness the political dynasties of the Adamses, Harrisons and Roosevelts of the past, or the Kennedys, Bushes, Daleys, Clintons, and Pattersons of the present. More to the point, the old aristocracy has been replaced by political correctness of the Ivy League "intelligentsia" and those who came by their wealth by inheritance or too easy a route ( e.g. Hollywood, currency speculation, shrewd stock market investment ). ****

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ****One party has tried to be one of principles but has not been faithful to them and the other is a party of principALs who, together, aggregate a lot of vote and will stumble only when the disparate groups are in conflict with each other or the damage to the polity is too apparent. ****

What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class. ****This does not mean death taxes for the middle class, small businesspeople and small farmers. It does mean that the Kennedys setting up tax-evading trusts in Fiji and not paying death taxes on the transfer from Old Joe to the second and the third generations should be remedied. ****

When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness. ****Various statements by Obama indicate either that he doesn't know history or chooses to distort it. ****

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