![]() ![]() "It profits me but little, after all, that a vigilant authority. ![]() disavowed beforehand the habitual use of compulsion in enforcing the decisions of the majority." was the result of a mature and reflecting preference for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence." ![]() Motivated by his “love of liberty and human dignity,” his Democracy in America has been called “one of the wisest works of modern thought,” that for understanding and preserving liberty, “the intelligent American reader can find no better guide.”ĭespite democracy’s prominence in his title, de Tocqueville’s focus was liberty, because “the only passions I have are love of liberty and human dignity.” Revisiting him is particularly important now, when the need for a political majority has become virtually the only limit on government, because he saw how democracy can subvert liberty. July 29 marks the birth of Alexis de Tocqueville. ![]()
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