Link of the day

... but first, a very important message from Alexis de Toqueville speaking to us from Democracy in America:

after having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp, and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate to rise above the crowd.

The will of man is not shattered but softened, bent and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupifies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrial animals, of which government is the sheperd.

(paragraphs and italics, ours)

If any of this sounds relevant, it should because it's called being killed with kindness. And remember, this is when the "good guys", i.e., the people that know what's best for you, are in charge - just wait 'til the bad guys get behind the wheel.



Totally related and under the category of Newspeak...

Out: "Government"

In: Your "Federal Family"

Harrison has the details here.