Quote of the Day - Alexis de Tocqueville

"It is not force alone, but rather good laws, which make a new government secure. After the battle comes the lawgiver. The one destroys; the other builds up. Each has his function. It is not a question now of finding out whether we are to have monarchy or republic in France; but we still want to know whether it is to be an agitated or a tranquil republic, an orderly or a disorderly republic, pacific or warlike, liberal or oppressive, a republic which threatens the sacred rights of property and of the family, or one which recognizes and honors them. It is a fearful problem concerning, not France alone, but the whole civilized world. If we can save ourselves, we shall at the same time save all the nations around us. If we fail, we shall bring them all down with us. According as we establish either democratic liberty or democratic tyranny, the fate of the world will be different. Indeed, one may say that it depends on us whether in the end republics will be established everywhere, or everywhere abolished."

~~  Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1848 preface to "Democracy in America".