“Alexis De Tocqueville was impressed by much of what he saw in American life, admiring the stability of its economy and wondering at the popularity of its churches. He seems to have achieved the goal of standing above the Parties of the day. Both Left and Right appeal to this work for support of their contrary policies.”
– “The American people cheerfully exclude the ablest men from government.”
– “Democratic citizens are likely to feel incapable on their own and to seek protection, while becoming the dependents of a state that suffocates them with its “mildness.”
– “Democracy’s greatness and beauty is in its Justice.” [Without Justice, America loses its beauty and greatness].
– “America and Russia stand for the democratic future, the one with freedom, the other with servitude. Each seems to have been called “by a secret design of Providence” to hold in its hands “the destinies of half the world.”
– “Two threats that democracy pose to independence and dignity are ‘tyranny of the majority’ and ‘mild’ or ‘administrative’ despotism.”
– “Tyranny is found wherever unmixed authority is found, which is everywhere, and this tyranny becomes actual where authority meets no opposition.”
– “It was the hope of America’s founders that representative institutions would remedy the defects of popular government by diminishing opportunities for demagogic manipulation of public deliberation. The majority cannot be expected to discern a common good, either as individuals or as a people, even if they sincerely desire it; much less can they see the means needed to effect it.”
– “Earnest and able citizens will often lack the time to choose representatives wisely.” [Become lazy, apathetic or preoccupied with their own interests and comfort in their security and well-being].
– “Others will be given to envy of those who they suspect really are their betters.”
– “These better men will not be inclined to stand for election, preferring to make their fortunes by relying on themselves [Horatio Bunce].”
– “Well-meaning, but untutored citizens can easily be led astray by political partisans [Parties].”
– “These citizens tend to be swayed by partisans [Parties] who advocate the unlimited expansion of “popular” power.”
– “Citizens will constantly be urged and tempted to press for increasing the power of the majority [Party] without being able to assure its wisdom or justice.”
– “Thus, contrary to the Founders’ hopes, elections will not by themselves serve to bring “enlightened statesmen” to the helm [Fetterman of PA, Hobbs of AZ; Santos and Harris of NY, Biden of Delaware, ad infinitum].”
– “Those who are elected will remain subject to envy and personal distrust. Every instance of corruption in which they might indulge will exacerbate ill will toward themselves and other elected officials because it is readily intelligible to ordinary citizens.”
– “Such distrust will not prevent their [exercise of] considerable arbitrary authority.”
– “The majority prizes arbitrariness to further its ends, and it knows well the punishment it can inflict at the next election on those who violate its sometimes misplaced trust or who merely displease it. So it will show itself quite tolerant of lawbreakers when used in its name [Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, et al].”
– “The majority government is as likely to be poorly administered as the majority is likely to be willful and undisciplined; it will often be lacking in apparent purpose and sustained effort, inexpert, and wasteful.”
– “Democratic government will rarely be effective, efficient, or economical, even if it does not always produce tyranny.”
– “The majority itself will want to ignore its own laws and policies when inconvenienced by them, or to change them hurriedly to suit its convenience. This means that elected representatives, however feckless, will always find much to do.”
– “The government will have an appearance of restive- almost anarchic – activity that is really superficial legislative and administrative instability.”
– “The tyranny of the majority will be further enhanced by the notion that the interests, not just the opinions, of the many should always prevail over those of the few. All are presumed to have the same interests.” [“for the common good” – Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand; “Universal Health Care”, etc.]
- No minority opinions will merit respect or be an obstacle to the majority’s will. Three examples: In Baltimore, two journalists who opposed the War of 1812 were killed by a mob of supporters to the war. In Philadelphia, black freedmen were too intimidated to exercise their right to vote; the hanging of Mary Dyer and four other Quakers in Boston, 1660; the expulsion of the Mormons from the continental United States mid- winter in 1838 by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs’ extermination order; and the murder of their leader Joseph Smith in 1844 (a persecution that pervades to this day).
– “Here we see the majority chilling freedom of speech to an unprecedented degree. I do not know any country where, in general, less independence of mind, and genuine freedom of discussion reign than in America.”
– In the end the result is that unpopular Truths will no longer be spoken at all, and popular unTruths, especially those that flatter the majority, will be reiterated incessantly.
– “Men of independent mind will become utterly dispirited.
– “Equality Theory” will be verified when none but the mediocre or pusillanimous remain.”
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), Democracy in America, Vol. 1; 1835
