I went out after sunset and happened to look up. Clouds, contrails–I almost missed the picture. As I was taking another picture some minutes later, I glanced again at the moon and saw a different picture.
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I read it. All of it. Democracy In America Volumes 1 and 2, approximately 750 pages. I will say that the author De Tocqueville was an engaging writer and so was the person who translated the volumes. I thought the book would be a boring slog and dreaded the read. The two volumes were first published in 1835 and 1840, respectively.
Takeaways: Under no definition of democracy was America a democracy. It was a thinly disguised imposition of an aristocracy composed of Englishmen who owned property or I should say land. Think about it…no one could vote but them. All the representatives came from the same class and nationality. All were males of a certain age…21 and over? They were replicating the class system in England by another name. As in England, women and children were the property of a male. Also, at first, only males could inherit…primogeniture and the eldest son inherited everything. By the time, De Tocqueville was writing, the inheritance laws were slowly changing. However, primogeniture was probably the reason my ancestors ended up in Kentucky. A father, resident of Virginia, bought property for a younger son, gifted him with Slaves, and sent him to the wilderness of Kentucky. One way to ensure there was no murderous sibling rivalry.
2. The first wave of immigrants were not the ones who could succeed in English society, but young males whose parents could no longer defend their criminal/anti-social behavior; servants whose reputation caused problems finding another position; criminals; debtors; prostitutes; thieves; seekers of gold and silver–the dregs of English society–the uneducated and the unwashed. At this time, there were also the speculators who only wanted to somehow profit at someone else’s expense. Then, came the religious zealots.
3. The laws, civil and criminal, have always favored the rich. De Tocqueville said it best–“The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the aristocratic colors breaking through.”
4. By the time of the writing of Democracy In America, more European males were voting. Eligibility to vote was based on age, and/or land ownership, and/or income. (Different States had different requirements.) Note that even though the Founders knew that in order to keep a republic the citizens had to be educated, there was no education requirement in order to be eligible to vote. An aside: That is until the European males, now in the group called “white” used the requirement of an “education” that the former Slaves were denied to deprive Black males of the right to vote. And exceptions were made for the ignorant uneducated whites so that they could vote.
5. Most immigrants had no deep caring for freedom, justice, or equality. All they truly cared about was a government that would maintain law and order in service of their exploitation of whomever or whatever in their quest for riches. (We are dealing with their descendants and more recent immigrants of the same persuasion.)
6. Ben Franklin said the United States was–“a republic, if you can keep it.” Even then, they knew that a republic would only be viable if the citizens were educated, the citizens were a participant in a compassionate community; and the citizens cared about the future.
They knew, even then, the pitfalls–“If ever the Supreme Court came to be composed of rash or corrupt men, the confederation would be threatened by anarchy or civil war.“; that the citizens would contend with wiles of parasites and sycophants, by the snares of ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate, by the artifice of men who possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it (De Tocqueville); that the citizens were class conscious and had no empathy for those they considered “Other”; that it was imperative that the church stay out of the government; that greed, the love of money, would cause irreparable schisms; that the tendency to view one’s government through an individualistic lens would cause apathy and disengagement from the government.
Yet, no Foundation, that I know of, was created to study these pitfalls and find ways to mitigate these dangers. However, many Foundations, like the Heritage Foundation, have been created to study the ways and means to incrementally destroy democracy. Or how to integrate all the “Others” who resided in the United States who would want to participate in its governance and would cause unrest if their legitimate request was denied. Instead…every so often there is a crisis where the corporations, the kleptocrats, the kakistocrats, the fascists, the toxic individualists rise to power and pursuant to that crisis, there is a reset, but not a lasting solution. Think about it–for example, there have been Jackson’s political patronage system, robber barons, and the corporate power grab in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why is there no learning curve?
The State of the Union was an Animal Farm 2026 spectacle. Awards, pageantry, lies, sycophancy–all hallmarks of Animal Farm. Sad, can’t learn from history or fiction. First Venezuela, now Ecuador? What criminals will do to stay out of jail and those soldiers lives are worth nothing to the criminal who wants to stay out of jail. Just a collateral necessity.
I read somewhere that the high temperatures–mid seventies and above–means that we are in a “false” spring. I’ve heard of an “early” spring, but “false”–that’s a new, to me, descriptor for spring. Apparently, there is an arctic front that might be in the offing. I decided to put my plants out, anyway. If the arctic front comes, I will cover the plants and hope for the best. But, weather is very unpredictable. For example, yesterday, there were storm clouds and the weather service said to expect thunderstorms. Guess what–no thunderstorms, no rain and I had to water the plants this morning.
Every dynasty or kingdom or family (some) has an origin story. I think this is a product of the patriarchy. Patriarchy thrives on hierarchy and it had to create a plausible explanation why some men are better than others. The origin story provides legitimacy to the claim to rule or the riches of the family, To be in such favored positions, these people must descend from a special greatness, mustn’t they? Usually, their forebears are gods or akin to gods. It is always the male descendants who carry this specialness through the generations. Origin stories are usually false, as is the origin story of the United States. The United States would have remained a colony for a longer period if the tea importer favored by the English government had not undercut the smugglers who were making a handsome profit from bootleg tea. Today, the U.S. might have the same status as Canada. But the bootleggers’ false version of events was a compelling story that won the day and is being told today as truth.
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You can’t plant a seed and pick the fruit the next morning. Jesse Jackson (1941-2026) (R.I.P.)
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