THE ATLANTIC -- Bernard-Henri Levy, "In the footsteps of Tocqueville", enjoys several Tocquevillean moments on his journey across the States. He recalls several incidents in the May 2005 edition of The Atlantic Monthly.
Seized by a strong need to piss, and tired of the Starbucks, McDonald's and Pizza Huts, where there are almost always signs telling you the name of the guy who "cleaned this bathroom with pride" and the name of the "supervisor" whom you should call "for comments and compliments," I ask Tim to let me off at the edge of a quiet field bathed in sunlight. Scarcely have I begun when I hear behind me the roar of a motor followed by a screeching of brakes. I turn around. It's a police car.
"What are you doing?"
I'm getting some fresh air."
"You don't have the right to get fresh air."
"Okay, I'm pissing."
"You don't have the right to piss."
"What do I have a right to do, then?"
"Nothing: it is forbidden on highways to stop, hang around, dawdle, and to piss."
"I didn't' know . . . "
"I don't give a damn what you know--keep moving."
"I'm French . . ."
I couldn't care less if you're French--the law's the same for everyone. Keep moving."
"I wrote a book on Daniel Pearl."
"Daniel who?"
And a book on the forgotten wars."
"What kind of wars?"
"I'm writing about following the path of Tocqueville . . ."
And suddenly, as the name Tocqueville is uttered, a sort of miracle occurs! The cop's face goes from suspicious to curious to almost friendly.
"Tocqueville--really? Alexis de Tocqueville?"
And after I tell him yes, Alexis, I'm following in the footsteps of this great compatriot who, 170 years ago, must have passed somewhere near here, this awkward customer, red with rage, who for all I knew was getting ready to book me for inappropriate behvior, for sexual display on a public highway, or, in any case, for "loitering with intent," looks at me with sudden affability and begins to ask me what, in my opinion, continues to be valid in Tocqueville's analysis.
Bernard-Henri Levy -- In the footsteps of Tocqueville" in The Atlantic Monthly, May 2005.
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