Honest opinion about government from Alexis de Tocqueville:
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.
The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal; but it depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to servitude or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or to wretchedness.
Within these limits the power vested in the American courts of justice of pronouncing a statute to be unconstitutional forms one of the most powerful barriers that have ever been devised against the tyranny of political assemblies.
In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils that it creates.
Democracy in America, 1835
French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville is admired for his concern for personal freedom, fear of majoritarian tyrrany, and desire for limited government. He wrote the classic, Democracy in America (2 volumes, 1835, 1840).
Quotation and short bio from The Quotable Conservative: The Giants of Conservatism on Liberty, Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and Traditional Values. Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent, editors. Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing, 1996.