. . . which is really America’s shame. I just want to add one note. A while ago, a couple of people involved in the Wisconsin case, on the conservative side — or the freedom side, or the rule-of-law side — came to visit us at National Review. They told us what had gone on. We listened in horror.
I had just finished reading, in pre-publication form, Roger Scruton’s novel about Communist Czechoslovakia. That book was not only fresh in my mind but pulsating all over my mind. And what I was hearing about Wisconsin, in good old Amurrica, reminded me of the book (as I noted to our guests). I was not being figurative, or poetic. I meant, it really reminded me of the book.
In the past, I’ve said that most people aren’t democrats at heart. The democratic spirit is relatively rare. Some people chastised me for saying this. I will now say that, at a minimum, many people aren’t democrats at heart. In a democracy, they must be curbed. They must be guarded against, constantly. Do not assume that people as a whole, including those in power, are devoted to the Declaration and the Constitution and Mom and Abner Doubleday and all that stuff. It isn’t true.