Friday, 25 October 2013

Alexis De Tocqueville - Enslaved Souls And Centralization

'........but such is the course adopted by tyranny in democratic republics: there the body is left free, and the soul is enslaved. The sovereign can no longer say, "You are free to think differently from me, and to retain your life, your property, and all you possess; but if such be your determination, you are henceforth an alien amongst your people. You may retain your civil rights, but they will be useless to you, for you will never be chosen by your fellow citizens if you solicit their suffrages, and they will effect to scorn you if you solicit their esteem. You will remain amongst men, but you will be deprived of the rights of mankind. Your fellow creatures will shun you like an impure being, and those who are most persuaded of your innocence will abandon you too, lest they should be shunned in their turn.'

'Not only is a democratic people led by its own taste to centralize its government, but the passions of all the men by whom it is governed constantly urge it in the same direction. It may be easily foreseen that almost all the able and ambitious members of a democratic community will labour unceasingly to extend the powers of government, because they all hope at some time or other to wield those powers themselves.'

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