"...(T)here are certain
truths which the Americans can learn only from strangers or from
experience."
I have decided to start a series that I am calling "Emancipation of the Mind" because millions of African Americans like myself are struggling to exercise an independence of the mind that is not subjected to the world view of the white population. This task is difficult, to say the least, because it essentially involves a self-induced lobotomy or reprogramming in which I am having to assert an identity that has been denied to me and of which I know very little. That is to say that I am calling upon all the material and immaterial resources available to me to construct a historical philosophy that speaks to my greatness, my beauty, and my genius as an African American and as a member of the African American people. Of course, some may wonder if I am exaggerating the state of our nation in order to advance my own principles. To that I say, you need only look inward at your lack of self-consciousness and glutinous appetite for ignorance and passivity to see that Black people, specifically those descendants of enslaved persons, have been paralyzed by the enduring chains of mental slavery. I do not limit my critique to abstractions, but encompass all the facets of American life including but not limited to education, politics, religion, and entertainment. In all of these areas, there is a great tendency of the African American population to blindly follow the commands of the masters without little objection. Even the most intelligent among us busy themselves with the task of maturing their income instead of maturing their mind.
I am not, neither will I ever be, a slave to any man.
Let us start with a critique of American democracy. One of the best critiques of American democracy was by a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859). It's a shame that Americans are so self-absorbed with the pursuit of a dollar that the writings of a man from well over a century ago still hold true for American society. I hope that this piece is the first of many to awaken my self-consciousness and those of African Americans to realize our true selves.
"Democracy in America"
THE very essence of democratic government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the
majority; for there is nothing in democratic states that is capable of resisting it. Most of the
American constitutions have sought to increase this natural strength of the majority by artificial
means.
Several particular circumstances combine to render the power
of the majority in America not only preponderant, but
irresistible. The moral authority of the majority is partly based
upon the notion that there is more intelligence and wisdom in a
number of men united than in a single individual, and that the
number of the legislators is more important than their quality.
The theory of equality is thus applied to the intellects of men;
and human pride is thus assailed in its last retreat by a
doctrine which the minority hesitate to admit, and to which they
will but slowly assent. Like all other powers, and perhaps more
than any other, the authority of the many requires the sanction
of time in order to appear legitimate. At first it enforces
obedience by constraint; and its laws are not respected until
they have been long maintained.
The right of governing society, which the majority supposes
itself to derive from its superior intelligence, was introduced
into the United States by the first settlers; and this idea,
which of itself would be sufficient to create a free nation, has
now been amalgamated with the customs of the people and the minor
incidents of social life.
The French under the old monarchy held it for a maxim that
the king could do no wrong; and if he did do wrong, the blame was
imputed to his advisers. This notion made obedience very easy; it
enabled the subject to complain of the law without ceasing to
love and honor the lawgiver. The Americans entertain the same
opinion with respect to the majority.
In the United States, political questions cannot be taken up
in so general and absolute a manner; and all parties are willing
to recognize the rights of the majority, because they all hope at
some time to be able to exercise them to their own advantage. The
majority in that country, therefore, exercise a prodigious actual
authority, and a power of opinion which is nearly as great; no
obstacles exist which can impede or even retard its progress, so
as to make it heed the complaints of those whom it crushes upon
its path. This state of things is harmful in itself and dangerous
for the future.
In America the authority exercised by the legislatures is
supreme; nothing prevents them from accomplishing their wishes
with celerity and with irresistible power, and they are supplied
with new representatives every year. That is to say, the circum-
stances which contribute most powerfully to democratic instabil-
ity, and which admit of the free application of caprice to the
most important objects, are here in full operation. Hence America
is, at the present day, the country beyond all others where laws
last the shortest time. Almost all the American constitutions
have been amended within thirty years; there is therefore not one
American state which has not modified the principles of its
legislation in that time. As for the laws themselves, a single
glance at the archives of the different states of the Union
suffices to convince one that in America the activity of the
legislator never slackens. Not that the American democracy is
naturally less stable than any other, but it is allowed to
follow, in the formation of the laws, the natural instability of
its desires.2
The omnipotence of the majority and the rapid as well as absolute
manner in which its decisions are executed in the United States
not only render the law unstable, but exercise the same influence
upon the execution of the law and the conduct of the administration.
As the majority is the only power that it is important to court, all its
projects are taken up with the greatest ardor; but no sooner is its
attention distracted than all this ardor ceases; while in the free states
of Europe, where the administration is at once independent and secure, the
projects of the legislature continue to be executed even when its
attention is directed to other objects.
TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY
I hold it to be an impious and detestable maxim that, politically
speaking, the people have a right to do anything; and yet I have
asserted that all authority originates in the will of the
majority. Am I, then, in contradiction with myself?
A general law, which bears the name of justice, has been
made and sanctioned, not only by a majority of this or that
people, but by a majority of mankind. The rights of every people
are therefore confined within the limits of what is just. A
nation may be considered as a jury which is empowered to
represent society at large and to apply justice, which is its
law. Ought such a jury, which represents society, to have more
power than the society itself whose laws it executes?
When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the
right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal from the
sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind. Some
have not feared to assert that a people can never outstep the
boundaries of justice and reason in those affairs which are
peculiarly its own; and that consequently full power may be given
to the majority by which it is represented. But this is the
language of a slave.
A majority taken collectively is only an individual, whose
opinions, and frequently whose interests, are opposed to those of
another individual, who is styled a minority. If it be admitted
that a man possessing absolute power may misuse that power by
wronging his adversaries, why should not a majority be liable to
the same reproach? Men do not change their characters by uniting
with one another; nor does their patience in the presence of
obstacles increase with their strength.3 For my own part, I cannot
believe it; the power to do everything, which I should refuse
to one of my equals, I will never grant to any number of them.
I am therefore of the opinion that social power superior to
all others must always be placed somewhere; but I think that
liberty is endangered when this power finds no obstacle which can
retard its course and give it time to moderate its own vehemence.
Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing.
Human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion.
God alone can be omnipotent, because his wisdom and his justice
are always equal to his power. There is no power on earth so
worthy of honor in itself or clothed with rights so sacred that I
would admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant authority. When
I see that the right and the means of absolute command are
conferred on any power whatever, be it called a people or a king,
an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I say
there is the germ of tyranny, and I seek to live elsewhere, under
other laws.
In my opinion, the main evil of the present democratic
institutions of the United States does not arise, as is often
asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their
irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the excessive
liberty which reigns in that country as at the inadequate
securities which one finds there against tyranny.
an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom
can he apply for redress? If to public opinion, public
opinion constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it
represents the majority and implicitly obeys it; if to the
executive power, it is appointed by the majority and serves as a
passive tool in its hands. The public force consists of the
majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested with the
right of hearing judicial cases; and in certain states even the
judges are elected by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd
the measure of which you complain, you must submit to it as well
as you can.4
If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so
constituted as to represent the majority without necessarily
being the slave of its passions, an executive so as to retain a
proper share of authority, and a judiciary so as to remain
independent of the other two powers, a government would be formed
which would still be democratic while incurring scarcely any risk
of tyranny.
In the United States the omnipotence of the majority, which
is favorable to the legal despotism of the legislature, likewise
favors the arbitrary authority of the magistrate. The majority
has absolute power both to make the laws and to watch over their
execution; and as it has equal authority over those who are in
power and the community at large, it considers public officers as
its passive agents and readily confides to them the task of
carrying out its de signs. The details of their office and the
privileges that they are to enjoy are rare
