Alexis De Tocqueville Archives

PAYNE: The New Hampshire Delegation Gets a Zero

November 21, 2025November 21, 2025 Russ Payne

Alexis de Tocqueville, in his 1830s book “Democracy in America,” assessed why America was so prosperous. His words speak loud and clear: “Every citizen is taught … the history of his Country, and the leading features of its Constitution … It is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and … Read more

Notable Quote – We’ve gone the wrong direction; REALLY wrong!

December 26, 2021 Skip

Somewhere along the way we lost our conviction that the best government was self-government. In our enthusiasm for turning over every social problem to the administrative bureaucracy for solution, we forgot that democracy is based on the maxim that the solution of the problem of social life is the business of the people themselves. Neither … Read more

Somewhere, De Tocquville is smiling: “I told you so!”

March 28, 2020 Skip

Progressives and Socialists (e.g., those that despise our Founding Principles (else why do they never give up in trying to destroy them?)) always look to Government for answers (and always to the most Centralized version of such)? The rest of us that haven’t lost that sense of “rugged individualism” (again, also despised by our betters) … Read more

Federalism, socialism and ‘dreams of fancy’

November 16, 2019November 15, 2019 Op-Ed

Explaining the incredible prosperity of New England in the colonial era and early American republic, Alexis de Tocqueville noted first that the people were left largely alone by the government.

Notable Quote – Alexis De Tocqueville

January 17, 2019 Skip

It may easily be foreseen that almost all the able and ambitious members of a democratic community will labor without ceasing to extend the powers of government, because they all hope at some time or other to wield those powers. … Centralization will be the natural government.” -Alexis De Tocquivelle (“Democracy in America”) And here … Read more