Tocqueville determined that the one defining factor in the United States was equality of condition, says John Wilsey in this week’s Acton Commentary.
Tocqueville noticed that Americans apparently had the singular ability to prevent equality of conditions from yielding democratic despotism. Through voluntary associations, vigorous local government, a pursuit of self-interest rightly understood, and laws that were based on an accepted moral structure taught in disestablished church bodies, Americans were able to strike that critical balance between private interests and the interests of the community. Thus they were able to enjoy liberty and equality simultaneously.
The full text of the essay can be found here.
Interested in more on this topic? Register to attend (or livestream) Liberty in Equality or Constraint, November 29, 2018, in Munich.
