Democracy in America: HOW EQUALITY OF CONDITION CONTRIBUTES TO MAINTAIN GOOD MORALS IN AMERICA 11-4-2010 (Part 4)

 [Continued from Democracy in America: HOW EQUALITY OF CONDITION CONTRIBUTES TO MAINTAIN GOOD MORALS IN AMERICA 11-4-2010 (Part 3) sch8/22/2023.]

Consider America in 2010 with this from de Tocqueville [1831 – sch 8/22/2023]:

...Thus the same families that were most profligate fifty years ago are nowadays the most exemplary, and democracy seems only to have strengthened the morality of the aristocratic classes. The French Revolution, by dividing the fortunes of the nobility, by forcing them to attend assiduously to their affairs and to their families, by making them live under the same roof with their children, and, in short, by giving a more rational and serious turn to their minds, has imparted to them, almost without their being aware of it, a reverence for religious belief, a love of order, of tranquil pleasures, of domestic endearments, and of comfort; whereas the rest of the nation, which had naturally these same tastes, was carried away into excesses by the effort that was required to overthrow the laws and political habits of the country.

We laws alone will create the changes attributed to the French aristocracy and the French Revolution. Laws have no such effect when they do not organically arise out of society. The Volstead Act and our “war on drugs” are my examples of inorganic laws. They more seriously corrupt society than the problems they seek to solve. 

Our governments understand punishment better than education. I may be the first person to declare the French Revolution an educational experience! Anyway, that is how I read de Tocqueville interpreting the Revolution's effect. The Revolution taught the aristocracy to change their behavior. Deterrence works when the persons to be deterred know the consequences of their actions. In my case, the government failed to uphold the judge's goal of my sentence deterring others by failing to publicize the sentence. It is not always in the bureaucracy's interest to change people's behavior.

With the government relying upon its might through its law-making capacity having no effect and being an utter failure at education, I see the only way to change behavior is ourselves. I hope with this journal I can set an example of what not to do, the consequences, and how I work out to keep on living. That depends on them seeing the light of day. If you want to improve the country's moral fabric, it has to start with us. If you want to change your life, it depends on you. Set a good example and follow other good examples of human behavior. This needs to be done online and off. Do not suppose any of this easy. It will not be. I could easily be whisked off to the bowels of the federal Bureau of Prisons instead of laying myself open. Especially since I intend on these notes being made public. This will be how I make up for the wrongs done to family, friends, and the wider world. My 151 months in federal prison seems unacceptably insufficient means of making amends. We can do better for one another and for the world.

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