Disraeli, with more propriety
perhaps than he thinks, calls a "territorial democracy." To this
territorial democracy, the real American democracy, stand opposed
two other democracies--the one personal and the other
humanitarian--each alike hostile to civilization, and tending to
destroy the state, and capable of sustaining government only on
principles common to all despotisms.
In every man there is a natural craving for personal freedom and
unrestrained action--a strong desire to be himself, not
another--to be his own master, to go when and where he pleases,
to do what he chooses, to take what he wants, wherever he can
find it, and to keep what he takes. It is strong in all nomadic
tribes, who are at once pastoral and predatory, and is seldom
weak in our bold frontier-men, too often real "border ruffians."
It takes different forms in different stages of social
development, but it everywhere identifies liberty with power.
Restricted in its enjoyment to one man, it makes him chief, chief
of the family, the tribe, or the nation; extended in its
enjoyment to the few, it founds an aristocracy, creates a
nobility--for nobleman meant originally only freeman, as it does
his own consent, express or constructive. This is the so-called
Jeffersonian democracy, in which government has no powers but
such as it derives from the consent of the governed, and is
personal democracy or pure individualism philosophically
considered, pure egoism, which says, "I am God.
Pages:
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320