His signing of the welfare bill seemed especially historic. Conservatives may have won the argument, but they are losing the fight. The Clinton administration is quietly blocking the implementation of welfare reform. The federal budget continues to swell. Regulations are as cumbersome as ever.
Big government is alive, kicking and growing.
Tocqueville's careful observations and reflections on American society were recorded in his masterful study Democracy in America . Tocqueville's key theme was the dangers inherent in democratic government. But he made a key error that continues to influence our politics today. Tocqueville thought that equality would inevitably degrade the people's morality. Becoming too committed to equality, they would demand a central, bureaucratic state to enforce uniformity and equal results at the expense of liberty.