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What May 2019 Will Bring? And What Not?
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Bonne Année à tous.
A New Year's gift to friends and enemies of the EU. It's an intelligent .comment by De Tocqueville from his reflections on the American republic, and his speculations on future threats to its liberties He was obviously speaking by analogy with his knowldge of "L'Ancien Régime". (From where I come from, of course, I see this as a rather profound anticipation of the methods by which democracy regresses into oligarchy)
"If despotism were to establish itself in today's democratic nations, it would probably have a different character. It would be more extensive and more mild, and it would degrade men without tormenting them...The sovereign [VE: read Commission], after taking individuals one by one in his powerful hands and kneading them to his liking, reaches out to embrace society as a whole. Over it he spreads a fine mesh of uniform, minute, and complex rules, through which not even the most original minds and most vigorous souls can poke their heads above the crowd. He does not break men's wills but softens, bends, and guides them. He seldom forces anyone to act but consistently opposes action. He does not destroy things but prevents them from coming into being. Rather than tyrannize, he inhibits, represses, saps, stifles, and stultifies, and in the end he reduces each nation to nothing but a flock of timid and industrious animals, with the government as its shepherd...".
A New Year's gift to friends and enemies of the EU. It's an intelligent .comment by De Tocqueville from his reflections on the American republic, and his speculations on future threats to its liberties He was obviously speaking by analogy with his knowldge of "L'Ancien Régime". (From where I come from, of course, I see this as a rather profound anticipation of the methods by which democracy regresses into oligarchy)
"If despotism were to establish itself in today's democratic nations, it would probably have a different character. It would be more extensive and more mild, and it would degrade men without tormenting them...The sovereign [VE: read Commission], after taking individuals one by one in his powerful hands and kneading them to his liking, reaches out to embrace society as a whole. Over it he spreads a fine mesh of uniform, minute, and complex rules, through which not even the most original minds and most vigorous souls can poke their heads above the crowd. He does not break men's wills but softens, bends, and guides them. He seldom forces anyone to act but consistently opposes action. He does not destroy things but prevents them from coming into being. Rather than tyrannize, he inhibits, represses, saps, stifles, and stultifies, and in the end he reduces each nation to nothing but a flock of timid and industrious animals, with the government as its shepherd...".
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