Alexis invites us further beyond the first few paragraphs by exploring the history of France over the previous 700 years – from the start of the 12th century to his day. While it ignores the massive impact of the Plague upon migration and the fall of the feudal system, his brief summary brings him to the point he wants to make concerning democracy:
“Once citizens began to hold land by other than feudal tenure, and transferable wealth, being conspicuous, created new wellsprings of power and influence, no discovery in the arts, no improvement in commerce or industry, failed to create a comparable number of new elements of equality among men. From that moment on, every newly discovered process, every newly conceived need, every new desire that craved to be satisfied, marked further steps toward universal leveling. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, indeed, all the passions of the human heart from the most superficial to the most profound, seemed to conspire to impoverish the rich and enrich the poor.
Once works of intelligence became sources of power and wealth, people were obliged to look upon every scientific advance, every new discovery and idea, as a germ of power placed within the people’s grasp. Poetry, eloquence, memory, the graces of the spirit, the fires of the imagination, profundity of thought – all these gifts, which heaven distributes at random, benefited democracy, and even if they happened to be in the possession of democracy’s adversaries, they still served its cause by setting in relief the natural greatness of man. Democracy’s conquests therefore spread with those of civilization and enlightenment, and literature was an arsenal open to all from which the weak and the poor daily drew arms.
If we run through the pages of our history, we find scarcely a single great event of the past seven hundred years that did not redound to equality’s benefit.”
He gives examples, such as the Crusades causing land to be left uninherited by families snuffed out in the Middle East; city governments bringing power closer to the governed; guns making all classes equal on the battlefield; the printing press indiscriminately providing knowledge to all; and more. As he says, “The noble has moved steadily down the social ladder, and the commoner has moved steadily up.”
Apply this today. Who hasn’t been following on Twitter someone who two years ago would have been untouchable? Is not the invention of Google opening access to knowledge that, despite Gutenberg, remained inaccessible to large members of the population? What about the Internet itself? The airplane?
The invention of the wheel itself thousands of years ago started the process rolling, allowing man to affect his environment, paradoxically being able to stay in one place by using it to move things to him, not the other way around.
This is not unimportant.
Alexis is setting up a foundationally sound argument that man gravitates toward democracy naturally.
Continuing through his Introduction, Alexis explores the tumult that Europe is going through as it pursues democracy and, understandably, he mentions France as the most vigorously tried state in this unmanaged but providentially guided chaos:
“We can discover indubitable signs of God’s will even if God Himself remains silent. We only have to examine the habitual course of nature and the constant tendency of events. Though the creator does not raise His voice, still I am certain that the curves along which the stars move through space are traced by His fingers.”
Alexis’ metaphor reveals his belief that democracy is marching along according to God’s Plan.
But still, Alexis has fear for the unfettered march promulgated by man’s search for something – perhaps seeking God’s favor?
And we are seven pages in…
Kristofer Cowles has written 301 articles on this blog.
