DEMOCRACY AND THE DEATH OF LIBERTY

by PATRICK HENRY

I am, however, persuaded that anarchy is not the principal evil which democratic ages have to fear, but the least. For the principle of equality begets two tendencies; the one leads men straight to independence, and may suddenly drive them into anarchy; the other conducts them by a longer, more secret, but more certain road, to servitude…

The very next notion to that of a sole and central power, which presents itself to the minds of men in the ages of equality, is the notion of uniformity of legislation. As every man sees that he differs but little from those about him, he cannot understand why a rule which is applicable to one man should not be equally applicable to all others.

Such was the observation of the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville as he toured the United States in the early 1830s. Among other things, Tocqueville acutely perceived that nations which upheld the twin principles of democracy and equality were liable to slowly drift down the dark road of servitude to a powerful central government. In his masterpiece of political philosophy, Democracy in America, he supports this theory by stating numerous notions, sentiments, and peculiar cases, which are readily to be found among the people of democracies, which lead them to such a circumstance.

While a thorough review of de Tocqueville’s work has infinite merits and benefits for the interested student of history and government, the purpose here is to simply validate the great philosopher by pointing out his prescient foresight. Moreover, though his conclusions are typically used these days as a means to account for the endless transfer of power in the U.S., from the individual State Governments to the tyranny of the Federal Government, these same principles can be used on a secondary level as well. Namely, that centralization of power also reveals itself at the state level, especially here in good ol’ Maryland.

The transfer of power from local governments in Maryland to the state government has been an ongoing process since at least the time of the War Between the States. As de Tocqueville would point out, however, the drift toward centralization has increasingly moved at an accelerated rate, relative to the level of existing equality. What this means is that as prevailing state laws make Marylanders more equal, the rate of centralization increases, which in turn enables further equality.

You do not believe it? Go ahead and list the recent O’Malley Administration’s and Maryland Democratic Party’s “achievements,” whether through acts of the legislature or referendums of the “Urban Majority” (i.e. democracy).

1. Clean Indoor Act of 2007: Smoking is banned in all areas open to the public, even in privately owned establishments, such as restaurants and bars. The fact that one owns their place of business does not matter anymore, even when it comes to making decisions about legal activities (e.g. smoking).

2. House Bill 987 (Stormwater Management Watershed Protection and Restoration Program) of 2012: Affectionately known as the “Rain Tax,” this gem of our State Legislature affects the ten most populous counties, as of right now. But never fear, uniformity among all counties in Maryland is inevitable.

3. 2012 Referendum Question 04: This flagrant violation of local liberty mandates all Community Colleges in Maryland to allow illegal immigrants the benefit of in-state tuition costs. One of the more well-known ballot question to the average voter, it was voted down in every county of Chesapeake except Somerset and Wicomico.

4. 2012 Referendum Question 05: This one makes you question the very merits of democracy. Because of this, the boundaries of the Eighth Congressional District (Western Maryland) were gerrymandered so that the counties of Western Maryland were forced into a district with the more populous and liberal Montgomery County, thus flipping the district from Republican to Democrat. The result of this is more power allocated to the dominant liberal agenda in Maryland and its representation at the national level. Why in the world did all of the conservative counties of Maryland, except Garrett, vote for this?! Had the people truly educated themselves on the question, they would have never condoned this abomination. Alas, questioning the intelligence of voters in a democracy will be the subject of a future essay on this website.

5. 2012 Referendum Question 06: My favorite, Gay Marriage. This violation of two thousand years of Western Tradition recognizes the validity of Gay Marriage. Never mind the fact that all ten counties of Chesapeake voted this down (some by enormous margins), this mandates that all governments and laws throughout Maryland must recognize the validity of same-sex married couples, even if the people of individual localities resent it and view it as anathema to their morality.

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