Tocqueville - A Great Biologist?

Pictured Above: American Sheeple waiting

to be cared for by their shepherd.

My associate Dr. Tim brought it to my attention that not only was Tocqueville a greater writer, but he apparently was also a great biologist. Tocqueville predicted that Homo Sapien Americanus would evolve into Sheeple Americanus.

In "Democracy in America," he anticipated people being governed by "an immense, tutelary power" determined to take "sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate." It would be a power "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and gentle," aiming for our happiness but wanting "to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness." It would, Tocqueville said, provide people security, anticipate their needs, direct their industries and divide their inheritances. It would envelop society in "a network of petty regulations — complicated, minute and uniform." But softly: "It does not break wills; it softens them, bends them, and directs them" until people resemble "a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."