To participate in politics can inculcate the habit of reasoned choice while at the same time revealing the limits of reasoned choice. The second remedy, an extended republic, by which The Federalist means a commercial republic, exacerbates popular disinterest in politics by fostering a preoccupation with material well-being. Democratic public opinion is egalitarian, individualistic, and materialistic. In theory each citizen is equal in his ability to look after matters of his own exclusive concern. But Tocqueville points out that in fact we are often unable to provide for all our interests by our own efforts.
Individualism intensifies our preoccupation with providing for our own material needs.
Yet even the modest goal of providing for oneself is beyond the reach of some. It is all too tempting to rely instead on a powerful and impersonal bureaucracy, first to do what we ask and then to tell us what can be done and therefore should be asked. Democratic citizens are soon relieved of the necessity and finally of the ability to make even the smallest choice. For Tocqueville, America's experiment in republican government is endangered not only by imprudent popular willfulness, but especially by thoughtless, almost slavish affection for big government. These are the remedies needed to preserve liberty and dignity in American democracy.