tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20142791.post6488156480161284817..comments2024-03-11T07:41:19.149-04:00Comments on The Perfect Substitute: Don't tread on me!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20142791.post-91005719156944671502007-03-07T20:20:00.000-05:002007-03-07T20:20:00.000-05:00A wonderful response to "individualism" as the eth...A wonderful response to "individualism" as the ethos of libertarianism, from none other than De Toqueville himself, who wrote:<BR/><BR/>"Not only does democracy make men forget their ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from their contemporaries, Each man is forever thrown back upon himself, and there is danger that he may shut up in the solitude of his own heart." <BR/><BR/>As well as, "Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself. Selfishness originates in blind instinct; individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it originates as much in deficiencies of mind as in perversity of heart. Selfishness blights the germ of all virtue; individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all others and is at length absorbed in downright selfishness." (Democracy in America, Volume 2, Book Two, Chapter 2)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com