So I’m reading Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. I wish I could say it was more entertaining and engaging than it is; perhaps I’m unused to his 19th century writing style, all long sentences with twists and u-turns.
This quote caught my eye:
In Europe, the criminal is an unfortunate who is fighting to hide from the agents of power; the population in a way helps in the struggle. In America, he is an enemy of the human species, and he has all of humanity against him.
This was pre-Civil War America, the America of 1835-1840. Things have changed.
Snowden, anyone?