de Tocqueville's Conservatism

An enduring problem with political debate are that the categories are so slippery. Take “conservative.” It can mean bellicose jingoist nationalism. Or an alliance of landowners and church that treat the poor like animals. Or—well, Alexis de Tocqueville would certainly count himself as a conservative: he was an aristo, and a close relative had lost his head to the guillotine. In his showcase book, Democracy in America, de Tocqueville wrote with sympathy about popular government, but with critical detachment.

One thing about de Tocqueville’s conservatism was that he liked the idea of the society where anyone’s spirit could flourish, not just those of his class. Here’s de Tocqueville with his conservative desideratum, never so well expressed:

It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work and more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak; and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens.

--de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Vol. II, Book Fourth, ch. 7

[Not sure off hand which translation, but I bet it is Henry Reeve in the old Vintage paperback edition.]

Fn.: I seem to recall a very similar declaration from John Stuart Mill, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it just now.

Another fn: I see that Amazon customers who bought DA also bought Mario Puzo, The Godfather. This may not be as far-fetched as it at first appears: both believe in the primacy of strong family relationships.