William Kent on Democracy, 1905
by Laurie Thompson
In this election year of 2012, it is interesting to go back in time to read what Marin County’s own William Kent had to say about the concept of democracy over 100 years ago.
In an address titled “Municipal Citizenship” given to the students of Lake Forest College on the occasion of Washington’s Birthday in 1905, William Kent had this to say:
“There is no more tiresome platitude urged by those who expound government than that ‘democracy is on trial.’ Besides being a platitude it is a falsehood. For democracy is no more on trial than the law of gravitation. It is the ultimate truth. And just as the child may come to grief in experiments with the law of gravitation, so we may come to grief in trying, in our unripeness, to practice democracy. It is we who are on trial, and not the only theory of government that can long subsist.”
Five years later, in 1910, William Kent was elected to the United States Congress where he served for three terms.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
