future of america

So we went over the most amazing quote today in my government class. A fellow by the name of de Tocqueville visited America in the early 1800's and in a prophetic way was able to see a part of democracy that would allow for a 'unique' kind of despotism. I'm going to cite the whole quote, it speaks volumes and has everything to do with my other govt post:

"I noticed during my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to that of the Americans might offer unique opportunities for the establishment of despotism...

I think that the kind of oppression that threatens democratic peoples will not resemble anything previously seen in the history of the world...

I see a multitude of people, too numerous to count, equal and alike...Above them rises up a huge and guardian-like power, which is alone responsible for making sure that they are happy and for watching over their fate. It is absolute, attentive to details, regular, full of foresight, and gentle. It would resemble parental authority if, like that authority, it had for its purpose the preparation of people for adulthood. But, to the contrary, it only seeks to keep them in a state of permanent childhood.

It likes it when the citizens enjoy themselves--provided that they do not think about anything other than enjoying themselves.... It provides for their security, anticipates and takes care of their needs, facilitates their pleasures, manages their most important affairs, directs their labors, makes rules for the writings of their wills, divides their inheritances; why wouldn't it relieve them entirely of the trouble of thinking and the difficulty of living? ....In the end, it reduces each nation to nothing but a flock of timid and hard-working animals--with the government as its shepherd."

"I have always believed that this sort of slavery--orderly, gentle, and peaceful--the portrait of which I have just sketched out--could be combined more easily than one could imagine with some of the exterior forms of liberty. It is even possible that it could be established under the shadow of the sovereignty of the people....

Our contemporaries...imagine a single, guardian-like, and all-powerful authority--but elected by the citizens. They combine centralization and the sovereignty of the people....They console themselves for being under a guardian by thinking that they themselves chose their guardians....In this system, citizens depart from their dependence for a moment in order to choose their master--and then return to it....This does not satisfy me at all. Who my master is matters a whole lot less to me than the fact that I am under subjection...."

Basically he's saying that in a democracy, we as a people--through self-government--can give so much power to the federal government that the federal government is essentially taking care of all our needs, and that at that point we have become 'slaves' or 'sheep'. And what will be the fate of that society?

"It is altogether pointless to give the responsibility of choosing the representatives of this kind of central power to citizens whom you have rendered so dependent on it. This exercise of their free will--so important, but so brief and infrequent--will not prevent them from losing little by little their ability to think, to feel, and to act for themselves--and from gradually falling below the level of humanity.

It is truly hard to imagine how people who have renounced the habit of directing their own lives could do a good job of choosing those who must lead them; and one ought not to expect that a liberal, energetic, and wise government could ever arise from the votes of a people of slaves. A constitution that would be republican in its head and something more than a monarchy in all its other parts has always looked like a short-lived monster to me. The vices of the rules and the imbecility of the ruled will not be long in bringing it to destruction; and the people, weary of their representatives and of themselves, will either create freer institutions or soon return and spread themselves out at the feet of a single master."

--"What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear" by Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol.2, Part VI, Chapter 6, written around 1830 and translated by Michael Iachetta.

Does that sound like a good society?? Exactly as I was saying in my previous post, the more and more powers that shift to the federal government for the 'betterment of society' the more we are moving towards the society de Tocqueville describes here. It's important to recognize that he's not describing the conditions of America at the time of his visit to the US. It is a description of a political situation that he thinks could SOMEDAY arise in a country such as the US. And truly he was right, that's exactly what America is becoming, lending example to all the things I listed before, social security, medicare, federal 401k plans, etc.

All this illustrates the 8th and final meaning of liberty, having a large area of personal responsibility without help from government. We, as humans, have to be responsible. By giving our problems to someone else to solve, and by not being subject to the consequences of our actions (if you squander your money away, the government will still support you in your old age through Social Security), we are really eliminating choice altogether. It's a crazy concept to wrap your head around, but once you really do it's a huuuuge deal. Suddenly I see American government for what it was, what it is now, and what it's heading towards, and it's scary. I'm not sure I'll experience a fullness of what de Tocqueville was describing in my life time but I might. And knowing how ignorant the American people are towards politics and that too little effort is being taken to rectify this situation, it's enough to keep you up at night.