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"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." -Alexis de Tocqueville
We live in times where many believe that it’s important to be equal to everyone else. In America, we were proud to settle for the goal of equality of opportunity; everyone could grow and prosper as much as they chose, if they were willing to do the hard work. It seemed like an honorable and achievable goal.
But today in America, too many people are lazy and greedy. They want to be equal to everyone else, but they expect equality and prosperity to be handed to them. There is little satisfaction in the work ethic, to enjoy the results of building something with your own hands. People prefer that others free themselves of their own wealth and present it to those with less.
Effectively, those who embrace socialism have little pride or self-worth. They feel no obligation to make a contribution to their own lives and to society. And those people who have more than they need “owe” others who have less.
To the socialists, that is a just society.
Discussion (29)
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Oh that the quote was true. Democracy is a mechanism of decision making. Direct democracy refers to a plebiscite for making decisions while representative democracy is a delegation of decision making from the people to representatives. The people or their representatives can adopt socialism as the means of organizing societal management. That they are giving up liberty in so doing may be a decision or an incremental impact as the people empowered by a decision to socialize aggregate more and more control to themselves.
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I don’t see that happening. The state by its nature will continue to take power. As in NYC, the people may think that's what they want, until they realize what they've lost.
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This quote needs some context.
And someone with a background in history would be much better at providing that context than I.
Also, it appears this quote is from 1848, just a few months after Karl Marx coined the term socialism, in The Communist Manifesto, and maybe a French translation hadn't been published yet, so de Tocqueville's use of the word might be a little wonky.
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The word first appears 20 years before as a juxtaposition with individualism.
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Socialism begins and ends in tyranny. Those who possess wealth and power do not give it up willingly; it must be taken by force. Those wielding that force are similarly disinclined to give it up willingly.
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