On living risk-free and wi

HIS trip to the U.S.
inspired Alexis de
Tocqueville to write the
famous 1835 essay
entitled Democracy in
America.

In it he warned “of the
dangers of a nurturing gov-
ernment extending its arm
over the whole community,”
and he contemplated pre-
sciently how “a democratic
state of society, similar to that
of the Americans, might offer
singular facilities for the
establishment of despotism.”

Never before, in de
Tocqueville’s estimation, had
a rule undertaken without
force to direct and bring all
its subjects into uniformity.
For all their brutality, even
the Roman emperors left the
“details of social and private
occupations” to their sub-
jects. Not so this benevolent
tyranny, which scemed capa-
ble of degrading men without
tormenting them. In its mis-
sion to eradicate the natural
inequalities of men, de
Tocqueville feared this
“administrative despotism”
would also diminish their

mailinox

comment

imagination and passions.

The outsized infants of the
contemporary victim move-
ment, who can bring to its
knees an entire industry with
the aid of benevolent public
health bureaucrats, lobbyists,
and sycophants of the law,
would have de Tocqueville
gasping: “I told you so.” For
he warned, not of tyrants, but

of the ruler as guardian.

Unlike a parent, this guardian
would not be “preparing men
for manhcod,™ but seeking to
keep them in perpetual child-
hood by sparing them the
trouble of thinking.

What would de
Tocqueville have : said about
the “free agency” of an indi-
vidual whose demand for a
risk-free society is met with a
safety militia so intent on sav-

ing him from himself that it
compels him to coddle his
spineless frame with an
ergonomic seat at his piace of
work; it fits his aspirin bottle
with a cap only the jaws of
life can pry open; it monitors
the supplements he takes, and
even promises to tind a way
to teach him to leave off the
fries he so loves to eat. Most
frightening is that, as this
benevolent power cobs him of
his ability to make full use of
hiniself, the individual will
paradoxically see the losses as
benefits.

This governance “does not
destroy, but prevents exis-
tence; it does not tyrannize,
but it compresses, cnervates,
extinguishes, and stupefies a
people, until each nation is
reduced to be nothing better
than a tlock of timid and
industrious animals, of which
the government is shepherd.”
According to de Tocqueville,
it would be futile to call ona
people “which has been ren-
dered so dependent on the
central power, to choose from
time to time the representa-
tives of that power.” When
people sink “below the level
of humanity”, even voting is

meaningless.

It is a perverse irony that
has people concerned more
with the insane ramblings of
Nostradamus, than with the
coming full circle of de
Tocqueville’s closely argued
words. The effect of the
creeping statism de
Tocqueville foresaw, however,
fails to give pause, because
the minds and hearts of peo-
ple have been conquered. For
a large portion of the popula-
tion, government has become
a source of wealth through its
redistribution of “money,
benefits, services, contracts,
franchises, and licenses.” In
the U.S. and Canada, govern-
ment spending now accounts
for approximately 50% of
national income. Over half of
the Canadian population
receives more money in bene-
fits than it pays in taxes. For
the banditry of expropriating
some people’ 's money and
handing it over to the rest,
governments are rewarded
with slavish lovalty.

No less has this affected
Americans whose rugged
individualism is in retreat. A
survey conducted for the First
Amendment Centre in New

Pleasurable stroll trashed in North Van

Dear Editor:

1 like to walk in the early
mornings and that’s especially
pleasurable at this time of year.
We are so very fortunate to live
in one_of the most beautiful
areas of the world. As I walk, !
admire the lovely flowers,
shrubs and trees; the way peo-
fom look after their gardens and

iomes, and the way the city

and district look after our
parks. But I also see such fout-
ness. [ don*t understand peo-
ple who thzow their garbage
on the ground. There is so
much litter — empty cigarette

ackages and butts, junk food

ags and wrappers, beer bot-
des and cans, broken glass ~—
and it’s a very upsetting sight.
There are also: many disfigur-

ing symbols spray painted onto
buildings and signs. 1 don’t
know what they mean, but
they obviously mean some-
thing. The parents and rela-
tives of those who deface the
property of others must feel so
ashamed of their young peo-
ple. This morning I saw a
poster taped to a telephone
pole. It had obviously been

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made by quite a young child
bat one who has far more wis-
dom than a Jot of older people.
It asked that we stop turning
our world into a garbage can.
Kathleen May

North Vancouver
pansy@attcanada.ca

Friday, July 28, 2000 - North Shore News - 7

ithout spine

York, revealed that the
amendment is facing a verita-
ble onslaught from the
American public, a majority
of whom would happily
restrict the kind of public
speech certain groups tind
offensive. Fully 51% of the
sizeable sample surveyed felt
the press has too much free-
dom, and 20% feel govern-
ment should be able ta veto
what newspapers publish.

If Americans are turning
away from their proud radical
libertarian reots, what hope is
there for Canadians, who don
their penchant for govern-
ment as a sign of civility, and
whose Constitution promotes
an ethic of limits to freedoms?
Decades after de Tocqueville,
Lenin said that freedom was
no more than a “bourgeois

prejudice.” Echoing his con-
tempt, a Canadian ‘official,
Commissioner Alison Wylie
of the CRTC, recendy
bragged that we in Canada
lack the “hang-ups”
Americans have with free
speech. Clearly a credit to his
astuteness, Alexis de
Toequeville’s musings are,
however, bad news for us.
ot @

] am deeply saddened by
the sudden death of Noel
Wright. Noel was a gentle-
man. He was an erudite and
educated man who spoke and
wrote a beautiful English.

To me Noe! was always
kind and supportive. My sym-
pathies go out to his wife
Dorothy and to his family
and friends.

—guome@attcanada.net

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