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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: absence of intellectual freedom which seemed to him to degrade
administration and bring statesmanship, learning, and literature
to the level of the lowest, are no longer considered. The
violence of party spirit has been mitigated, and the judgment of
the wise is not subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant.
Other dangers have come. Equality of conditions no longer
exists. Prophets of evil predict the downfall of democracy, but
the student of M. de Tocqueville will find consolation and
encouragement in the reflection that the same spirit which has
vanquished the perils of the past, which he foresaw, will be
equally prepared for the responsibilities of the present and the
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