That de Tocqueville was one shrewd dude. I once read a quote from him to the effect that people in a democracy will allow government to be far more intrusive in their lives than people living under a king would, because they feel the government is representing them. They will allow a thousand petty tyrannies because it’s “us” doing it instead of “them”. Of course he was far more eloquent and persuasive.
He was correct too. Look at how our country stands today. Its no longer a republic its somewhere between a democratically elected monarchy. Or in Levins words welcome to “post-constitutional soft tyranny”