The mainstream media would like us to believe that the recent protests at tea parties and town hall meetings are something of a new happening in our country, but a quick gaze into history will reveal the falsity of this idea. Let us look to Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America of 1835.
“It is not impossible to conceive the surprising liberty that the Americans enjoy; some idea may likewise be formed of their extreme equality; but the political activity that pervades the United States must be seen in order to be understood. No sooner do you set foot upon American ground than you are stunned by a kind of tumult; a confused clamor is heard on every side, and a thousand simultaneous voices demand the satisfaction of their social wants. Everything is in motion around you; here the people of one quarter of a town are met to decide upon the building of a church; there the election of a representative is going on; a little farther, the delegates of a district are hastening to the town in order to consult upon some local improvements; in another place, the laborers of a village quit their plows to deliberate upon the project of a road or a public school. Meetings are called for the sole purpose of declaring their disapprobation of the conduct of the government…”
I’m confused… So this “angry mob” of citizens speaking out against the conduct of government existed in the early 1800s as well? It is interesting that the apparently uneducated Alexis de Tocqueville perceived the town hall meetings of early America as having a positive effect on American society. This begs the question, “Who organized these community rallies?” The United States did not have its first Republican president until more than 20 years after these words were written. Big oil and insurance companies were not around yet. Could it be that all of this rallying and protesting of early America was actually just concerned citizens who were exercising their First Amendment rights of speech?
Tocqueville goes on to speak of the misery that would follow if Americans were to cease from political activism.
“In some countries the inhabitants seem unwilling to avail themselves of the political privileges which the law gives them; it would seem that they set too high a value upon their time to spend it on the interests of the community; and they shut themselves up in a narrow selfishness, marked out by four sunk fences and a quickset hedge. But if an American were condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence; he would feel an immense void in the life which he is accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be unbearable.”
This ceaseless agitation which democratic government has introduced into the political world influences all social intercourse. I am not sure that, on the whole, this is not the greatest advantage of democracy; and I am less inclined to applaud it for what it does than for what it causes to be done.
Just as Alexis de Tocqueville predicted 175 years ago, the selfishness of the American people in neglecting political awareness and activism has led to the deterioration of our nation, but citizens all over this great country are finally waking up. This is not a time to lessen our involvement, but to increase our efforts. We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor. Keep up the good work!
