ABSTRACT
Tocqueville says: ‘Liberty is, in truth, a sacred thing. There is only one thing else that better deserves the name: that is virtue. But then, what is virtue if not the free choice of what is good.’1 Liberty is a sacred thing because liberty ties the creature to the Creator. The free choice for God, that is, the voluntary preference of God’s will to the human will and the expression of this preference in action, is virtue. Since God represents what is the highest good, virtue can only stem from His will. Hence, for the human creature to attain virtue, he or she has to prefer God’s will to his or her own. One has to choose, with one’s own free will, as God would choose. Tocqueville argues that the fight against liberty is the fight against God Himself, Who represents the ultimate good. The free choice for the good (God) is a choice supported by grace that gives one the strength to act according to what one sees as the right thing to do, as something added to free choice.2 Tocqueville argues that ‘grace constitutes liberty’.3 Grace enables one to see and appraise virtue and vice, in such a way that one is better able to choose what is good rather than incline towards evil. In order to be free, one’s nature must be perfected, be liberated from ordinary vices. Such a liberation is impossible without faith, hope and charity, while virtue itself is meaningless without the desire to be in communion with God. Faithlessness accordingly poses the greatest threat to liberty. Tocqueville recognizes faithlessness in absolute religion. For him, religious absolutism is the ally of despotism, which rules by fear. Absolute religion is an instrument of power, both in the material world and in the spiritual world. Its rule over subjects is complete, since it also rules over the conscience.4
