Bastille Day

Posted on July 14, 2004 in Festivals

Today marks Bastille Day, when a mob of French citizens stormed the symbol of royal oppression and touched off the French Revolution. It stands in France as their Independence Day, the day when the process of enfranchising every citizen began.

Bastille Day also marks an important lesson for our own time, here in America. That lesson should be taken to heart by those in Washington who strive to hold on to their power at all costs, even by abolishing elections or making them meaningless with behind-the-scenes manipulations: Go from power gently. For the sake of yourselves and the rest of us, go from power gently lest the mob rise and carry us off in blood.