No need to answer the question. Just thought the DeToqueville quote was appropriate to our circumstances the last week or so... By, the way, if there ever was an Official Cypherpunks Reading List(tm), the "Road to Serfdom", by Hayek would certainly be on it. There's a 50th anniversary edition out, with a forward by Milton Friedman... Cheers, Bob --- begin forwarded text Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 11:33:07 -0500 Reply-To: Hayek Related Research <HAYEK-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: Hayek Related Research <HAYEK-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Kent Guida <kent.guida@WORLDNET.ATT.NET> Subject: source of title To: HAYEK-L@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU Regarding the source of Hayekís title, The Road to Serfdom: Was it taken from Tocqueville? I assume it is, but Iíve seen no explicit acknowledgment. Hayekís references to T. all point to him as a soulmate and precursor. The passage in Democracy in America reads: I am convinced, however, that anarchy is not the principal evil that democracies ages have to fear, but the least. For the principle of equality begets two tendencies: the one leads men straight to independence and may suddenly drive them into anarchy; the other conducts them by a longer, more secret, but more certain road to servitude. Nations readily discern the former tendency and are prepared to resist it; they are led away by the latter, without perceiving its drift; hence it is peculiarly important to point it out. Vol 2, p.288 in Vintage edition of the Reeve translation Did Hayek ever refer to this as the source of his title? Can anyone help me out here? Kent Guida --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/