1. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --" Declaration of Independence - Text Transcript
2. The document was understood at the time not to promise equality of condition.
Equality, as an abstract, was modified by the American idea of reward according to achievement, and a reverence for private property.
Unfortunately, said concept has been modified with the growth of modern liberalism, and the ‘egalitarian’ impulse that fuels it. We have witnessed the constant expansion into areas in which equality of sorts is seen as desirable and/or mandatory.
a. Now, we proceed into the shadowy world of unintended consequences.... The intuitive deTocqueville wrote:
" In a democracy private citizens see a man of their own rank in life, who rises from that obscure position, and who becomes possessed of riches and of power in a few years; the spectacle excites their surprise and their envy, and they are led to inquire how the person who was yesterday their equal is to-day their ruler. To attribute his rise to his talents or his virtues is unpleasant; for it is tacitly to acknowledge that they are themselves less virtuous and less talented than he was. They are therefore led (and not unfrequently their conjecture is a correct one) to impute his success mainly to some one of his defects; and an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor."
Tocqueville, "Democracy in America," chapter VIII
3. Well, in a democracy, once a portion of the electorate views the success of another, and compares same to himself, it begins ".. to impute [own lack of] success mainly to some one of his defects; and an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor"...and this is the very explanation of "Occupy Wall Street," they appeal to those in power ready to ignore right and wrong, laws, and tradition, and pander to the envious.
a. Everyone, it seems, wants to believe that he is just as good as the next guy, and in a democracy, the government adds its authority by the ‘leveling’ process.
“But what his heart whispers to him, and the law proclaims, the society around him incessantly denies: certain people are richer, more powerful than he, others are reputed to be wiser, more intelligent. The contradiction between social reality and the combined wishes of his heart and the law, therefore incites and nourishes a devouring passion in everyone: the passion for equality. It will never cease until social reality is made to conform with his and the law’s wishes.”
Pierre Manent, “An Intellectual History of Liberalism,” p. 107-8.
Of course, there are curs who see this flaw of human nature as their path to power.....they practice, successfully, 'Identity Politics,' based on stirring up enmity between people, and pandering.
Sadly, it works.
4. “Since the end of the Second World War, however, a new ‘ethic’ has come into being, according to which the envious man is perfectly acceptable. Progressively fewer individuals and groups are ashamed of their envy, but instead make out that its existence in their temperaments axiomatically proves the existence of ‘social injustice,’ which must be eliminated for their benefit.”
Helmut Schoeck, “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior,” p. 179
Envy is one of those human characteristics which should be held in check. But when 'democracy' looks the other way, and accepts it, it becomes the basis for governmental action.
2. The document was understood at the time not to promise equality of condition.
Equality, as an abstract, was modified by the American idea of reward according to achievement, and a reverence for private property.
Unfortunately, said concept has been modified with the growth of modern liberalism, and the ‘egalitarian’ impulse that fuels it. We have witnessed the constant expansion into areas in which equality of sorts is seen as desirable and/or mandatory.
a. Now, we proceed into the shadowy world of unintended consequences.... The intuitive deTocqueville wrote:
" In a democracy private citizens see a man of their own rank in life, who rises from that obscure position, and who becomes possessed of riches and of power in a few years; the spectacle excites their surprise and their envy, and they are led to inquire how the person who was yesterday their equal is to-day their ruler. To attribute his rise to his talents or his virtues is unpleasant; for it is tacitly to acknowledge that they are themselves less virtuous and less talented than he was. They are therefore led (and not unfrequently their conjecture is a correct one) to impute his success mainly to some one of his defects; and an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor."
Tocqueville, "Democracy in America," chapter VIII
3. Well, in a democracy, once a portion of the electorate views the success of another, and compares same to himself, it begins ".. to impute [own lack of] success mainly to some one of his defects; and an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor"...and this is the very explanation of "Occupy Wall Street," they appeal to those in power ready to ignore right and wrong, laws, and tradition, and pander to the envious.
a. Everyone, it seems, wants to believe that he is just as good as the next guy, and in a democracy, the government adds its authority by the ‘leveling’ process.
“But what his heart whispers to him, and the law proclaims, the society around him incessantly denies: certain people are richer, more powerful than he, others are reputed to be wiser, more intelligent. The contradiction between social reality and the combined wishes of his heart and the law, therefore incites and nourishes a devouring passion in everyone: the passion for equality. It will never cease until social reality is made to conform with his and the law’s wishes.”
Pierre Manent, “An Intellectual History of Liberalism,” p. 107-8.
Of course, there are curs who see this flaw of human nature as their path to power.....they practice, successfully, 'Identity Politics,' based on stirring up enmity between people, and pandering.
Sadly, it works.
4. “Since the end of the Second World War, however, a new ‘ethic’ has come into being, according to which the envious man is perfectly acceptable. Progressively fewer individuals and groups are ashamed of their envy, but instead make out that its existence in their temperaments axiomatically proves the existence of ‘social injustice,’ which must be eliminated for their benefit.”
Helmut Schoeck, “Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior,” p. 179
Envy is one of those human characteristics which should be held in check. But when 'democracy' looks the other way, and accepts it, it becomes the basis for governmental action.
