The Tocqueville Fraud

Tocqueville Today ^ | November 13, 1995 | John J. Pitney, Jr.

[SirLinksalot]

I thought I should post this here as I do often hear speeches from conservatives still attributing the above stirring quote to Alexis De Tocqueville.

It might do us well to get our history straight.

[madprof98]

Zell Miller used this quote in his speech at Atlanta's March for Life last week.

[atomicpossum]

I suppose you'll tell me that Sir Linksalot didn't write 'Baby Got Back,' now, too.

[TiaS]

Say what you want about the famous quote attributed to Tocqueville -- it's like feeding chicken soup to a corpse, it ain't going to hurt anything.

[mlc9852]

I agree. What does it hurt?

[Bender2]

It is entirely all my fault. I cut that passage out and ate it with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

[johnny7]

“Where's my horse... dude?!” -Alex de Tocqueville, 1853

[Christopher Lincoln]

Do you think that's bad? I have heard lawyers and judges cite laws that do not exist.

[adorno]

Say what you want about the famous quote attributed to Tocqueville -- it's like feeding chicken soup to a corpse, it ain't going to hurt anything.

I agree.

If Tocqueville didn't write it, then it could rightfully be attributed to famous wise men such as Reagan and Eisenhouer and Zell Miller and others. It won't matter and won't hurt. The quotes were and are still applicable when it comes to America.

[Lorianne]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.

[motzman]

It depends upon what the meaning of "is" is.
-Alex de Tocqueville, 1854

[ansel12]

"It might do us well to get our history straight."


Truth is everything, we must always fight to keep history as accurate as we can. (Does anyone know this better than conservatives?)

[VOYAGER]

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerc - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it vas not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

----------------------------------- These lines are uplifting and poetic. They are also spurious.

Nowhere do they appear in Democracy in America, or anywhere else in Tocqueville.

Granted for lack of proof this beautiful writing was not written by de Tocqueville for clarity's sake who did write it?

Or is your information that he wasn't the author comes from the same place that your response comes from; "I don't know"?

Please solve this psuedo mystery for us who want to know!

[GladesGuru]

What I found interesting is that the use of a faux phrase is that so few any longer have enough of an education to catch such errors.

As much as the university Marxists hate conservatives, and with the amount of time and effort they expend propagandizing against conservatives both in front of their classes and in the faculty lounge, isn't it ironic that none of them caught such errors?

Even academia has been degraded by John Dewey and Marxism.

Time to muck out the academic stable.

[zzen01]

It's a LIE! THAT's what it hurts!

[billbears]

I thought I should post this here as I do often hear speeches from conservatives still attributing the above stirring quote to Alexis De Tocqueville.

Which conservative did you hear that used this quote?

[liberallarry]

So lying is good when it supports your bias?

[tarheelswamprat]

we attributed it to "an old adage."

Isn't that a bit redundant?

[Old Professer]

I did find this with a Google search: As everyone knows, Alexis de Tocque­ ville’s Democracy in America is filled with valuable observations about the United States. America’s unprecedented social equality, its freedom, its vibrant intermediary institutions, even its volatile racial situation—all of these subjects are treated with a depth and subtlety that have yet to be surpassed. And then there is Tocque­ ville’s revealing, and less frequently noted, discussion of the surprising relationship between Enlightenment and Christianity in America. The United States is a country, he claims, that combines widespread Enlightenment with a deep and abiding faith in God. Just as, for Americans, “it is the observance of divine laws that guides man to freedom,” so it is that “religion . . . leads [him] to Enlightenment.” Link

[Old Professer]

The editing window closed so the pagination on the last post doesn't have paragraph breaks, sorry.