Tocqueville on False Benefactors
“Above [the citizens] an immense [government] is elevated,
which alone takes charge of assuring
their enjoyments and watching
over their fate.
It is absolute,
far-seeing,
detailed,
regular,
mild.”
“It would resemble paternal power if,
like that, it had for its object
to prepare men for manhood;
but on the contrary,
it seeks only to keep
them fixed
irrevocably
in childhood.”
“It likes citizens to enjoy themselves
provided that they think only
of enjoying themselves.”
“It willingly works for their happiness;
but it wants to be the unique agent
and sole arbiter of that.”
“It provides for [everyone’s] security,
conducts their principal affairs,
divides their inheritances,
facilitates their pleasures,
directs their industry,
regulates their estates,
foresees and secures
their [false] needs.”
“Can it not take away from them,
entirely the trouble of thinking,
the pain of living?”
According to me
“They have displaced their instinct
with belief in the ‘common good.’
which is never ‘common’,
and never ‘good’,”
“And then also belief in
‘peace and justice’,
which is never
peaceful,
or just.”
