In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville predicted a "...species of oppression... with] which democratic nations are menaced...unlike anything which ever before existed in the world..." It was a despotism that "...would be more extensive and...would degrade men without tormenting them." It would be a force that "...compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, til each...is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid...animals, of which...