By MARY FRANCIS DAVIDSON
How is it that an 18th century Frenchman had a better grasp on politics and democracy in America then any pundant or wannabe politico or expert since then?
Someone asked me what I thought of the Democratic National Convention bash last week, to which I answered the same as comedienne Angela Johnson—who is Mexican—when people ask, “Hey, how come your last name is Johnson?”
“I don’t know!” she answers with great hilarity.
What do I think about the DNC?
I don’t know! And with as much a sense of the absurd as Angela.
Despite receiving a degree in political science, reading I don’t know how many books, and various other academic and political endeavors, I feel ever the outsider.
Famed French philosopher Alexis de Toqueville focused on the concept of liberty to understand change and flux in early 19th century America.
Aristotle said we should aim for the mean and maximum respect for the many.
Opiner and hedge fund manager James Altucher said that for a fresh and simplified point of view, pretend you’re a Martian when seeking to understand the goings on of a place and its people.
Now I’m more confused.
But watching an episode of The Glenn Show on YouTube with black pundits Glenn Loury and John McWhorter, both noted professors, on the topic tempered my sense of alienation.
Loury described particulars of the multi-day event, such as Oprah’s appearance and her heartfelt cry of what the event meant to her and could mean to others—Joy!
“What a bunch of BS!” Loury said.
I felt understood because I have not ever watched more than a couple of episodes of the major influencer’s show.
Loury seems to think the entire Kamala camp is corrupt and strange.
“Things are a little weird over there,” he said, referring to the party’s pronounced gender-identity advocacy.
“They’re not who they say they are,” he also stated.
On the other hand, McWhorter, who opted out of watching the event and instead read Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beacher Stowe for the first time, maintained a stance more similar to mine.
“I just don’t know what the DNC really has to do with me?”
All three of us are glad Biden’s out.
He was too old.
And we agree that with Biden out, Harris has a better chance, and that she is better than the alternative.
Maybe everyone feels the way we do.
Yesterday, while riding the A line through downtown LA, a man came into our cabin mentioning an overwhelming smell of weed and feet as his reason for moving away from his original train car.
On my car, he ran into an acquaintance he knew because they both make money selling graphic T-shirts at all manner of political events and music and street fairs.
The conversation I overheard between the two was similar to Loury and McWhorter’s, only with one of them staunchly against Harris, and favoring the alternative, citing border issues and rampant crime as major concerns.
He also mentioned Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ pro-marijuana position as another reason for rejecting the left.
The other man, the one who had stated his previous train car’s rank smell of weed and feet, said the alternative’s criminal history and utter incompetence in office as reasons for rejecting him and supporting Harris.
“We’ll just have to see how it plays out,” the pair agreed as they left with their bikes at the next stop.
Either way, with Harris as the new face of the political left-of-center and creating a more favorable and dynamic political climate, the election is a lot more pleasant now.
That I do know.
Such political considerations, alienation and discussion have continued over time with change as the constant. Loury’s and McWhorter’s intentions to edify viewers are the same as famed French aristocrat, sociologist, political scientist and historian de Tocqueville, who, after observing politics in the New World first-hand, wrote the classic political thesis Democracy in America in 1835.
By writing the book, which is a staple in American schools, he wanted to help the French understand an emerging democratic order while leaving behind a failing aristocracy.
Reaction to de Toqueville’s book, to his broad ranging, complex and restless liberalism has been wide-ranging with conflicting interpretations as well as admirers from across time and the political spectrum.
The concept of liberty was de Toquevilles’s focus back then, as it was at the DNC last week, with as many contrasting reactions.
In other words, no one really knows, and hopefully the guillotine won’t ever be part of our modern-day equation.
The key is freedom and goodwill toward humanity, which reminds me of another moment on my journey yesterday.
While changing trains at the 7th Street station, a little old Chinese lady who spoke no English at all, made her way around the platform asking for signatures.
One man was like me with the DNC. He was unfamiliar and felt no connection to the issue. But the petition was against the Chinese Communist Party, and I signed right away.
I live in Arcadia which is predominantly Chinese and I have seen effort to organize against the CCP there.
Plus, several years ago, I went to a Chinese ballet called Shen Yun, which is a fund-raising effort and protest against the CCP.
I basically explained to the train patron my point of view—“If she was asking for signatures in China, they’d put her in jail.”
He signed it.
MARY FRANCES DAVIDSON is a writer-at-large for LAMonthly.org. She attended the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. She can be reached at davidson.mary@myyaho.com
