“The Dent in the High Hat”
Writer E.B. White reflects on the meaning of democracy
The following short item is from E.B. White, author of such classics as Charlotte’s Web for children and The Elements of Style for everyone who cares about good prose (along with co-author William Strunk). White penned this warm musing on democracy for The New Yorker on July 3, 1943, amid WWII and the battle against fascism. Note the optimism and the belief that this form of governance defines the American way of life.
From time to time, I plan to share more reflections on democracy from other writers—to both inspire and remember what this year’s struggle is all for.
We received a letter from the Writers’ War Board the other day asking for a statement on “The Meaning of Democracy.” It presumably is our duty to comply with such a request, and it is certainly our pleasure.
Surely the Board knows what democracy is. It is the line that forms on the right. It is the don’t in don’t shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad. It’s the mustard on the hot dog and the cream in the rationed coffee.
Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of a morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is.
A short coda: In an introduction to a 2019 collection of E.B. White’s essays, titled On Democracy, historian Jon Meacham recounted that President Franklin Roosevelt was a big fan of this New Yorker piece. He loved it so much that he read it aloud at various gatherings, then concluded jauntily: “Them’s my sentiments exactly.”
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In a democracy, the highest office is the office of citizen - Frankfurter.
A fun exercise. Democracy is;
Wearing your hair long, short or half shaved with a bun on top.
Taking pills in the AM with a glass of coke instead of a cup of coffee.
Sitting anywhere on a bus.
Choosing a chocolate ice cream cone instead of a vanilla.
Double parking in New York City.
Children reading Dr. Seuss.
Believing Texas no longer has a deep heart.
Listening to Alexa play AC/DC on sound seven.
Drawing hop scotch on a city street.
Laughing at Dr. Oz and his crudites platter.
Ordering a cheese burger in a French restaurant.
Calling Sequan Barkley the best.
Having wild flowers and weeds for a front yard.
Switching from Methodist to Presbyterian.
Tolerating the woman next door with seven cats.
Taking the Sociology course in Florida.
Saying you are 29 when you are .........................ok, 30!!
But mainly - heading the wrong way on the one way street of dictatorship.
White offers some good insights, with a flair, of course. The line I particularly like is "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time." The word "suspicion" in this context makes me smile. Thanks, Steven.