Donald Trump Embodies the Spirit Of 2016

“Revolutions are not always brought about by a gradual decline from bad to worse,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in “The Old Regime and the Revolution.” Instead, “Nations that have endured patiently and almost unconsciously the most overwhelming oppression, often burst into rebellion against the yoke the moment it begins to grow lighter.”

Tocqueville had detected a seeming paradox in the lead-up to revolution: When times were truly tough, revolution was out of reach, but as things got better, the likelihood of revolution actually increased. “Never had the feudal system seemed so hateful to the French as at the moment of its proximate destruction,” he wrote. Once it became clear people did not have to accept what was in front of them, their expectations changed. When they thought their choice wouldn’t make a difference, they were quiescent, but when they thought it would, they exploded.

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