10 September 2015

Quote of the Week

“They devise a sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of government, but elected by the people. They combine the principle of centralization and that of popular sovereignty; this gives [men] a respite; they console themselves for being in tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own guardians...By this system the people shake off their state of dependence just long enough to select their master and then relapse into it again...

“Subjection in minor affairs breaks out every day and is felt by the whole community indiscriminately. It does not drive men to resistance, but it crosses them at every turn, till they are led to surrender the exercise of their own will. Thus their spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated...It is in vain to summon a people who have been rendered so dependent on the central power to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity."
~ Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)

4 comments:

Ed Bonderenka said...

That's depressing.

Rev. Paul said...

We can let it make us depressed ... or we can stiffen our resolve to fight our way back, Ed. I choose the latter.

Guffaw in AZ said...

What you said, Rev. Paul!
ESPECIALLY Today!
(09112015)

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

Amen!