evidence: Alexis de Tocqueville’s (1805-1859) travels through the United States and his depiction of those travels and observations in Democracy in America (1835) remains a great example of political analysis. De Tocqueville’s insights into the then-new country have proven prescient. His comment that "I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not" could just as easily be applied today as when he toured the United States in the early 19th Century. [...] The degree to which de Tocqueville was concerned – "cynical" might be too harsh a word – about the survival of democracy in America was evidenced in some of his observations: