The Road to Obama

Alexis de Tocqueville praised and evaluated America in 1831. But he was most afraid of tyranny setting in. He said that once all outstanding classes had been eliminated, all disparities banished, the societies of the future would be defenseless against all forms of oppression.

Tocqueville was a convinced adherent of representative government, as distinguished from the choice by the whole populace. His belief in political dualism is a pertinent reminder today of the happy reconciliation of local self-rule while national government. Centralization certainly might mean efficiency, but it was not conducive to liberty.

His best advice: Let the laws continue to be national, but let the administration of those laws be decentralized. If citizens could be encouraged and locally trained, to take a larger share of their own communal government and its affairs, the results would be, not a loss of unity, but a tremendous increase in energy, satisfaction and stability. In fact, let everything be done to encourage and bolster the individual and the small local groups against the crushing weight, and the annihilating philosophy, of a superior State.

With his fears of the mob, however, poor Tocqueville did not allow for the ingenuity of the designing few and the potential indifference of the many. Obviously, the 1830’s are history. Reality is President Obama and his ‘superior State’ choosing sides - denouncing the Tea Party ( a majority? ) and praising Occupy Wall Street ( a minority?). Reality is Obama’s present, populist approach to political campaigning. Reality is Obama announcing that all students must remain in high school until 18 or graduation. The only way this system can ‘succeed’ is for teachers (and schools) to cheat, warehouse or tutor, meaning more taxpayer money poured down the pit of ignorance.

One hundred eighty years on, 2012 the tyranny of the left-wing, liberal, minority thrives. Always hibernating when not flourishing, its 20% never dies. An added twist, however, to the present ruling classes’ oppression and suppression of our liberties ( and share the wealth appeal of socialism), is its continuous propagandizing of class warfare and inequality, rich vs. poor. Obama’s tyranny is in itself a lie and betrayal of the principles upon which our great nation was founded. It’s a slap in poor Tocqueville’s thin, tubercular face, a genuine insult to truths he unearthed in his visit to America.