Paul Rahe's article in Commentary magazine February issue provides a useful service by placing the Tea Party phenomenon in a historical context. Professor Rahe is the author of (among other books) "Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect".
Key quote:
"A government set at a considerable distance from the people over whom it rules is apt to become a despotism, for it is out of sight and out of mind, beyond reach and beyond control. This the Framers understood. They took heart, however, from the French philosopher’s [Montesquieu] suggestion that a federation of small republics could overcome this geographical imperative."
(Via Power Line)
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