The American Way of Life (Part 22 of 28)

Part 22: of a 28-part series

The last idea, the last thing we are doing, is how we live. We are resting on our own ability, our own political acuteness, our own political ability. We’re not born with this ability, by the way. We’re born with a disability, with no ability for self-government. That doesn’t come with drinking the right kind of water, either. It’s the result of habit and long training.

It is remarkable to see – 200 years before the Declaration of Independence – that this was a habit of theirs. Because England was so remote (“3000 miles of water remote”), they had to fall back on themselves for their own care. Amazing – fall back on yourself for your own care. That’s a hard thing to do when there’s nothing around to use.

All had, for many generations, been more or less accustomed to self-government, and to public meetings for discussing local affairs. It’s a beginning of what they used to do a lot of. This used to happen and occur constantly, in their towns and in their society, to have gatherings of such, to discuss the current policies that they were under, or that was being produced. And we’ve lost that custom.

To be continued…

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