In an essay on democracy for The New Criterion, Kenneth Minogue began by “observing the remarkable fact that, while democracy means a government accountable to the electorate, our rulers now make us accountable to them. Most Western governments hate me smoking, or eating the wrong kind of food, or hunting foxes, or drinking too much… The distribution of our friends does not always correspond, as governments think that it ought, to the cultural diversity of our society. We must face up to the grim fact that the rulers we elect are losing patience with us.”
What to do? The state can, as Brecht advised, elect a new people – which the immigration policies of many western nations seem intended to accomplish. But you can also change the existing people, in profound ways and over a surprisingly short space of time. Give me a boy till seven, said the Jesuits, and I will show you the man. Give me a boy till Seventh Grade, say today’s educators, and we can eliminate the man problem entirely.
The Second Amendment was not written for upland-bird hunters.
I'm all for the Tea Party movement. But I often wonder if it would have been better to have started on a smaller scale, against school boards, superintendents, and educrats. You need to get rid of the little tyrants before taking on the big ones.
ReplyDeleteDave - the little battles are being fought too.
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Party is backing a block of 4 in our local district to wrest control back. They won the primary easily.