de Tocqueville warns us not to become weak and servile
Larry Kummer, Editor America, History 21 July 2008
In “Americans, the subservient†I speculated that our regime — with the Constitution as its foundation — may be dying because of changes in the character of the American people. In his letter to Harper’s Magazine (August 2008, subscribers only) Fred Nollan, elaborated on Mark Slouka’s June 2008 article, “Democracy and Deference,†describing how “Americans have become comfortable with the undemocratic qualities of deference and subservience — what Slouka calls our ‘loyalty to power, rather than to what one believes to be true or right.’â€
Nollan supports with quotations from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1840). This post gives the full context of those quotes. De Tocquiville saw with extraordinary clarity the dangers to which we have fallen into. Reading his words gives us perspective on where we are — and insights as to a better path forward. Bold emphasis is added.
https://fabiusmaximus.com/2008/07/21/de-tocqueville/
