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Quote of the Day: Alexis de Tocqueville
I think, then, that the species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything that ever before existed in the world; our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I seek in vain for an expression that will accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it; the old words despotism and tyranny are inappropriate: the thing itself is new, and since I cannot name, I must attempt to define it.
I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear in the world. The first thing that strikes the observation is an innumerable multitude of men, all equal and alike, incessantly endeavoring to procure the petty and paltry pleasures with which they glut their lives. Each of them, living apart, is as a stranger to the fate of all the rest; his children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of mankind. As for the rest of his fellow citizens, he is close to them, but he does not see them; he touches them, but he does not feel them; he exists only in himself and for himself alone; and if his kindred still remain to him, he may be said at any rate to have lost his country.
Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?
Thus it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself. The principle of equality has prepared men for these things;it has predisposed men to endure them and often to look on them as benefits.
After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: “What sort of Despotism Democratic Nations have to Fear”
Every so often I stumble across a nugget from the past that is either a now realized prophecy, or just proof that human nature is constant and eternal and that history does, as a result, repeat itself. This favorite seems deeply apt for our present debates.
Published in General
Excellent. And terrifying.
It’s good to re-read Tocqueville regularly. He saw so much so clearly.
Yep.
The problem with this kind of quote is that there are so many thoughts that tumble out after it.
Thank you, Cato. That was indeed quite a demonstration of foresight and insight into human nature.
And this conversation is part of the Quote of the Day Series. If you would like to share a favorite quote of your own, or just a quote you find prescient or appropriate to today’s circumstances, our sign-up sheet for June is here and still has plenty of openings.
Alexis de Tocqueville was an absolutely brilliant man. Just incredible. I consider him up there with Machiavelli in terms of a political genius with remarkable insight into the human soul. But he almost never existed. He came from a noble family, and during the French Revolution his parents escaped the guillotine only because Robespierre fell before they did. His work was sometimes limited by frequent illness, and he finally died of the tuberculosis that plagued him for most of his life at the age of 53. Imagine what he could have done in better health, and if had another 30 years to travel and reflect on things.
Thankfully Divine Providence kept him.
imagine that he accomplished so much in spite of the challenges.
No snowflake was he.
Whoa…So much wisdom, I don’t know where to start. Will bookmark this for later…Thanks, Cato!
Rational freedom doesn’t exist without uncertainty.
If I gave you a choice between a punch in the face versus a trip to Disney World, the choice is pretty much dictated for you, as soon as you hear the options. Sure, you could choose the punch in the face, but that wouldn’t be sane. The situation decides the course of action, for all reasonable purposes. But sometimes, the situation can’t decide. That’s when multiple courses of action are possible, and you simply don’t know which is better. And that’s when the decision falls to you – that is, when the situation itself is uncertain, you use your freedom to make decisions.
For practical reasons, we usually allow the situation to make decisions for us. It’s when the situation isn’t clear that we engage our own freedom to make decisions.
That’s on the cognitive side. But not all decisions are merely cognitive. We are also creatures of action, which means we act by following motivations. In short, we act because we want. Now when we were still living in trees, most of our wants were dictated by the immediate needs of survival. But eventually we didn’t have to spend every waking moment hunting for food, and that allowed us to develop desires that weren’t anchored to immediate needs.
We are now pretty much to the point where our desires go far beyond immediate needs. In other words, our desires aren’t dictated by our situation.
What are they dictated by? Ay, there’s the rub.
What Tocqueville worried about was when government felt entitled to dictate what their desires should be, and just as important, individuals who were too lazy to use their own freedom, and who were willing to just hand over their freedom in exchange for the certainty that government presumed to offer.
Good one, Cato.
This is one of the greatest challenges in dealing with any bureaucracy. The rules and systems in place are meant to prevent failure, but to little prompt action or success. Few people have the agency to decide difficult matters and fewer have any incentive to take a risk. It’s a world of “no’s” and silence.
I wonder if this is where Huxley got the idea for Brave New World ? The” immense tutelary power” that takes upon itself the provision of “gratification”–orgy-porgy!
I would sum it up this way: everything gets too easy. Then people get selfish and insular.
One sure cure:
War.
“Comfort, content, delight:
The ages’ hard-fought gain-
Thay vanished in a night.
Only ourselves remain.”
–Kipling
It is very Brave New Worldish, though it harkens back to the “bread and circuses” of ancient Rome too. I’ve always been an independent “march to my own drummer type” but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize just how many people prefer to just be kept comfortable and told what they need to do.
I agree with the other commenters, and would offer this as also being a good example of prescience. I believe it was written in the 1940’s.
Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of Rational Law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo the necessary intellectual discipline, Knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions . . . Whole cosmogonies will be created out of some forgotten personal resentment, complete epics written in private languages, the daubs of schoolchildren ranked above the greatest masterpieces. Idealism will be replaced by Materialism. Life after death will be an eternal dinner party where all the guests are 20 years old . . . Justice will be replaced by Pity as the cardinal human virtue, and all fear of retribution will vanish . . . The New Aristocracy will consist exclusively of hermits, bums and permanent invalids. The Rough Diamond, the Consumptive Whore, the bandit who is good to his mother, the epileptic girl who has a way with animals will be the heroes and heroines of the New Age, when the general, the statesman, and the philosopher have become the butt of every farce and satire.
Disneyland has gotten so expensive, I might opt for punch in the face.
Add a sum of cash with the punch ? in the face, and I’ll skip Disney.
See, life is not so predictable.