Times Independent | 1967-09-14 | Page 2 | Anarchy versus Repsponsibility

anarchy versus responsibility Much of the disorderly conduct and destruction of property that is carried on today in the name of freedom and independence of the individual is a sheer insult to the high principles of human lberty. Alexis De Tocqueville observed in 1935, as he commented on the unique qualities of the American experiment: "The revolution of the United tSates was the result of a mature and reflecting preference for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence. It contracted no alliance with the turbulent passions of anarchy; but its course was marked, on the contrary, by a love of order and law. It was never assumed in the United States that the citizen of a free country has a right to do whatever he pleases. On the contrary, more social obligations were there imposed upon him than anywhere else." De Tocqueville's words are particularly apt at the present time.