Make Government Unimportant Again
Discussion
This reminded me of when I read the story of "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving, first published in 1819. You might recall that Rip Van Winkle was a guy that went into the woods one day, drank some strong spirits given to him by strange Dutchmen (dwarves?), and fell asleep, not waking for 20 years.
When he does wake up, the world is very changed, and he learns "How that there had been a revolutionary war--that the country had thrown off the yoke of old England--and that, instead of being a subject to his Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States."
Prior to his long slumber: "For a long while he used to console himself, when driven from home [by his shrewish wife], by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village, which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his Majesty George the Third. Here they used to sit in the shade through a long, lazy summer's day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling endless, sleepy stories about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions which sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller. How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick Van Bummel, the school-master, a dapper learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary; and how sagely they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had taken place."
But now twenty years later, after the Revolution: "...Instead of the great tree that used to shelter the quiet little Dutch inn of yore, there now was reared a tall naked pole, with something on the top that looked like a red nightcap, and from it was fluttering a flag, on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes--all this was strange and incomprehensible. He recognized on the sign, however, the ruby face of King George, under which he had smoked so many a peaceful pipe, but even this was singularly metamorphosed. The red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was held in the hand instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated with a cocked hat, and underneath was painted in large characters, "GENERAL WASHINGTON."
"There was, as usual, a crowd of folk about the door, but none that Rip recollected. The very character of the people seemed changed. There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquillity. He looked in vain for the sage Nicholas Vedder, with his broad face, double chin, and fair long pipe, uttering clouds of tobacco-smoke, instead of idle speeches; or Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, doling forth the contents of an ancient newspaper. In place of these, a lean, bilious-looking fellow, with his pockets full of handbills, was haranguing, vehemently about rights of citizens-elections--members of Congress--liberty--Bunker's hill--heroes of seventy-six-and other words, which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the bewildered Van Winkle.
"The appearance of Rip, with his long, grizzled beard, his rusty fowling-piece, his uncouth dress, and the army of women and children at his heels, soon attracted the attention of the tavern politicians. They crowded round him, eying him from head to foot, with great curiosity. The orator bustled up to him, and, drawing him partly aside, inquired, "on which side he voted?" Rip stared in vacant stupidity. Another short but busy little fellow pulled him by the arm, and rising on tiptoe, inquired in his ear, "whether he was Federal or Democrat....""
What struck me about the story is that instead of philosophy people were now arguing politics, and everyone was divided into two camps and continual debate, in contrast to the tranquility that existed in previous times during the rule of the king.
"Well, what about all the taxes and intolerable acts that led up to the Revolution?" I know, but just let me enjoy my pre-democratic-republic fantasy for a moment...