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Show I American Scene, Part II America: Assurances For Liberty By RALPH HARDY Toqueville succinctly e - of demarcation between the ad or'3tte tegfcLators who, as Edmund S Mantarti with JfXSen?" Jonot sacrifice judgement and enlightenment. "There is a great difference between doing what one doe. not appt and Sng to approve what one does; the other befits the temper of a lackey. FINALLY, TOQUEVILLE broods over the nossfbllity of the tyrannical majority spwn-Can spwn-Can immense and tutelary power" which gradually "everyday renders the exerriSe of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; It circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself." This sure and gradual decline reads hfce some ancient preface or prototype to an Or-weHfan Or-weHfan novel where the once-happy majonty the proletarian masses are gradually placed into a perpetual, make-believe, and dwindling childhood and stupor of intelligence and freedom. free-dom. This would be the most tragic decline and demise of a free an industrious people. IN SPITE OF THE FOREBODING threats and dangers inherent in our system of popular pop-ular sovereignity and majoritarian government which seem to be waiting in the offing to crush and eliminate all we believe in, a veritable ver-itable system of strong counterpoises and deterrents deterr-ents have been steadily strengthening and assuring the "blessings of lffe, liberty ,and the persuit of happiness" indefinitely into the future. ONE ASSURANCE is the leavening effect of the American judiciary in venturing into the twilight zone of their traditional authority author-ity in order to guarantee the rights of the minority and the spirit of the Constitution. In fulfillment of Toqueville's hopes, the Supreme Court's liberal exercise of judicial review in many recent decisions has imbued the minority minor-ity with dignity and power undreamed of just two decades ago. This can be witnessed in the anti-segregation decision of 1954 and the recent prayer cases and the gradual inclusion-exclusion process pro-cess whereby most of the Bill of Rights has been made operative on the states by virtue ot the Fourteenth Ammendment. ANOTHER ASSURANCE for liberty u the tremendous increase in the political ej ucation of the citizenry. As more people are cognizant of their rights, privileges and immunities immun-ities under the Constitution today than at anv other time in our history, the absolute power of the majority is weakened. Through the blessings of the mass media more people can participate in the great decisions decis-ions of democracy and be more secure in the spirit and letter of the Constitution whicii they jealously guard in spite of assuhs on their security by men such as Sen. McCarthy in the 1950-s. FINALLY, I believe in the words of Edmund Ed-mund Burke, that government, through the interaction of a more aroused electorate and sensitive legislature, can become a great "matter "matt-er of reason and judgement." AlexS Toqueville has delineated the true profile of present American greatness and power with prophetic candor. He has leveled powerful and sobering indictments against the inherent weaknesses of a system which as Truman said is the best in the history of the world. With one hand he curses the crippling weaknesses of democracy and with the other imparts a final and hopeful blessing: . . I cling with a firmer hold to the belief that, for democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous, they require but to will it The promise that democracy can always be its own "refiner's fire and fuller's soap" .and continually purge itself o fits impurities and excesses if it so wills in the boundless energies of its people is its greatest redeeming characteristic and sure salvation for the future. WE HAVE, at least, the promise of purgation purga-tion and national virtue if we want it, and the feeling that a constant resurrection of liberty is possible when our present institutions check the excesses of the majority and help the important im-portant minorities to assert their Constitutional rights. This condition is more true today than at any other time in the history of the American union, and this would, no doubt, please Alexis de Toqueville. We must just live, beware, and be poignantly mindful of the lessons and auguries augur-ies of the past. |