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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 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: think freedom less necessary in great things than in little ones,
if it were possible to be secure of the one without possessing
the other. Subjection in minor affairs breaks out every day, and
is felt by the whole community indiscriminately. It does not
drive men to resistance, but it crosses them at every turn, till
they are led to surrender the exercise of their will. Thus their
spirit is gradually broken and their character enervated; whereas
that obedience, which is exacted on a few important but rare
occasions, only exhibits servitude at certain intervals, and
throws the burden of it upon a small number of men. It is in vain
to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the
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