Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Do tourists come to Washington to witness "democracy"?

Donald Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek has, as usual, some first-rate thoughts on the subject.

3 comments:

JeffS said...

Well, when I visited DC (which, aside from a few trip through it, sans stops, I last did in 1986), I went to witness history, and to experience a taste of our heritage. Even back then, I knew that "monuments" do not equal to "democracy".

"People" = "democracy". Period.

But I can see that many people would be (and likely are) distracted by shiny things. So Donald makes a good point.

Steve Skubinna said...

There's precious little "democracy" on display in DC. To see that you need to get out into where real Americans live and work.

rinardman said...

IMO, the answer to the question is no, they don't go to see "democracy". Like me, they go to see our heritage; showcased in beautiful and touching monuments, great vistas, vast museums, and the history of how this country was made. The times I've been there, politicians and democracy never crossed my mind. If there had been any "politicians" out and about, I would have avoided them out of fear of having my time there tainted, somehow.

DC may be the seat of democracy, but I didn't sit in it.

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