From Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy In America, (1835):
There are at the present time two great nations in the world, which started from different points, but seem to tend towards the same end. I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and while the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly placed themselves in the front rank among the nations, and the world learned their existence and their greatness at almost the same time.
All other nations seem to have nearly reached their natural limits, and they have only to maintain their power; but these are still in the act of growth. All the others have stopped, or continue to advance with extreme difficulty; these alone are proceeding with ease and celerity along a path to which no limit can be perceived. The American struggles against the obstacles that nature opposes to him; the adversaries of the Russian are men. The former combats the wilderness and savage life; the latter, civilization with all its arms. The conquests of the American are therefore gained by the plowshare; those of the Russian by the sword. The Anglo-American relies upon personal interest to accomplish his ends and gives free scope to the unguided strength and common sense of the people; the Russian centers all the authority of society in a single arm. The principal instrument of the former is freedom; of the latter, servitude. Their starting-point is different and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.
Besides being astoundingly prophetic, this quote may set the stage for 2015, 180 years after it was penned. It appears that the two powers are set to square off once again, and circumstances of geography, economics, and power won’t allow one to defeat the other, or for either to quit the battle. Policymakers in the U.S. seem to think that they have the upper hand. We’ll see. A warning: those who tangle with bears, especially wounded bears, usually emerge the worse for it.
As a final aside, if you’re making out New Year’s resolutions, if you have never read Tocqueville, you could do worse than resolving to do so.
