That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time The Power Of Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who Govern Are Less Stable - 11/12/2010

I cannot see much here of contemporary interest. For those wishing for a Christian government, this should be given serious thought:

... Nor do I hesitate to affirm, that amongst almost all the Christian nations of our days, Catholic as well as Protestant, religion is in danger of falling into the hands of the government. Not that rulers are over-jealous of the right of settling points of doctrine, but they get more and more hold upon the will of those by whom doctrines are expounded; they deprive the clergy of their property, and pay them by salaries; they divert to their own use the influence of the priesthood, they make them their own ministers – often their own servants – and by this alliance with religion they reach the inner depths of the soul of man.

That Amongst The European Nations Of Our Time, The Power Of Governments Is Increasing, Although The Persons Who Govern Are Less Stable

This chapter brought to mind how de Tocqueville mixes democracy (politics) and capitalism (economics) together. In this chapter, he writes about the rise of industrialization and corporate capitalism. 

It must be admitted that these collective beings, which are called combinations, are stronger and more formidable than a private individual can ever be, and that they have less of the responsibility of their own actions; whence it seems reasonable that they should not be allowed to retain so great an independence of the supreme government as might be conceded to a private individual.

This got me thinking about how in 1840 we are entering a new period of economic development and I see that applied to Europe, also. 

...As a nation becomes more engaged in manufactures, the want of roads, canals, harbors, and other works of a semi-public nature, which facilitate the acquisition of wealth, is more strongly felt; and as a nation becomes more democratic, private individuals are less able, and the State more able, to execute works of such magnitude....

Travel to Metamora, Indiana to see how Indiana to see how Indiana invested in canals and the state's return on investment. (Likewise, Indiana has a state park located at New Harmony, Indiana.) The railroads killed the canals and pushed forward heavy industry.

I wish I had the ability to double-check on American development during this time. Within ten years, America would have its war with Mexico and a gold rush and began hurtling towards the Civil War. The revolutionary generation was extinct (or so close not to matter) by 1840.

It may well be that technological and economic complexity leads to the need for concentrating power centrally rather than merely a democratic impulse. Soviet Russia industrialized via centralized control without a trace of democracy. Modern Singapore has a successful capitalist economy without much of a democracy. In the end, all roads lead to more government.

The question remains what it was for the Framers of the United States Constitution: how to regulate government power to minimize the inevitable abuses of that power.

sch

[I have always thought the separation of state and religion saved religion from the taint of worldliness. This is a remnant of my American Baptist upbringing, but it is also proven by history. Check out the Papal States, modern Iran, or modern Saudi Arabia. Christian Nationalism imperils religion, not save it. sch 8/25/2024.]