I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
romantic · political-thought
Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville · 1805–1859
Visitor who saw the tyranny of the majority more clearly than the natives. Soft despotism, and the soul left free while it is enslaved.
The majority possesses a power that is physical and moral at the same time, which acts upon the will as well as upon the actions, and represses not only all contest, but all controversy.
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.
The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.