Tocqueville and Overreach

Alexis de Tocqueville warned us of the dangers of paternalistic government in no uncertain terms. He visited America and was able to see the unique strengths and weaknesses of our Democratic system. He saw how much of our activity was controlled by the community, and the unique freedom that was possible in our country. While there was much informal organization of the people, he noticed that there was very little formal organization other than the government. While this works when the people are virtuous and strong and free, it presents some problems when the government remains stable and the rest of society has fragmented towards more individualistic tendencies. However, he saw that with no force to resist the state it would gradually grow as the people wanted to trade agency for comfort. Tocqueville did not describe the risk of the future American government as tyranny and coercion, but rather a soft sort of control that gradually eroded human capability through slowing our development and forcing many things to not exist through rules. People were hardly ever forced to act, but they were constantly forced to restrain from acting, leading to less discovery of all forms.

Tocqueville‘s point is extremely needed in America today where very little resistance is put up against non-coercive government action. People are extremely aware of the potential for tyranny as they vote in policies that create this dangerous form of control. In seeking to prevent the worst abuses of business or other citizens, we allow the government freedom to create countless rules. These laws are intended to only hem in the most extreme parts of society, yet they end up determining societal paths in ways that we cannot possibly predict. Non-coercive action can be just as dangerous as coercive government action because it provides no clear point to resist against. Additionally, we can be convinced that we are choosing the set of actions ourselves, even when they are promoted and enforced by law. When the world of the people and the government become subconsciously intermingled, the nature of political evolution is damaged beyond repair.

Tocqueville was so confident that the trade of agency for comfort would happen because he could see the American spirit clearly. We gladly trade our freedom for pleasure because we hold the pursuit of happiness above all else. While this is different from many governments, we have put ourselves in a position worse than some tyrannies. Although we still have liberty we use it in a way determined by past layers of regulation. We have let our psyche be so formed by state control that we cannot even use our leisure freely. Now that the state is subject to so much regulatory capture, our leisure is used as mindless consumerism. Liberty, when used effectively, can be the most powerful tool of human thriving, yet we use our liberty to fulfill a dream created for us by our government. Our inability to enjoy our greatest gift is one of the most significant proofs of Tocqueville’s worries. Some of the most creative people in the world are Americans, and we have a far higher rate of entrepreneurs than most countries, yet as a whole, the population falls into a set of dull and common mistakes that are derived from our governmental and cultural structure. 

We currently do not even understand how many of our societal characteristics are determined primarily by governmental control that has compounded over the years. We do not know how many businesses or ideas never came to be because of this silent chokehold of regulation. Our government allowed us far more freedom than other governments, but we tricked ourselves by democratizing all of the institutional structures that served as a counterpart to government overreach. Individual liberty in itself is good, but not if it destroys its own perpetuation. While the threat of violent despotism has not, and will never go away, when leadership can control people from within, there is no battle to be lost. It is better for people to fight tyranny and lose than to be complicit agents of that tyranny. America needs a stronger people that forms non-governmental institutions to keep the state in check, because a sea of isolated individuals will always be overcome by an organized central force. The government can become the greatest protector of liberty when it realizes that the people are a source of strength and power. Tocqueville would not be surprised with the current state of the nation, and it is in our hands to make him wrong.