Alexis de Tocqueville-"Democracy in America."

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
                                                    Alexis de Tocqueville

America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.

                 Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman, traveled to and visited in the United States in the 1830s, his observations about his experiences are contained in the book he wrote, "Democracy in America." The following Wikipedia article provides biographical material on him. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville

While we might want to romanticize the history of our Democracy, the words in the epigraphs above suggest otherwise. It suggests that the electorate was ill informed then and through individual observation it is abundantly clear that the electorate is ill informed now.

Today it is not uncommon for a Trump supporter to say, "He's the kind of guy who won't take shit from anybody and he'll just go in there and kick ass."de Tocqueville's words "so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion" describe what is lacking in such a motto.  People who ascribe to such an Attaboy motto are apparently in need of a cult leader, not a representative leader.  While the President in the execution of the constitutional duties should be forceful when it is called for and confrontational if necessary he /she should always be pursuing programs that further our national interests and doing so with the dignity attendant to the office of President of the United States. Belligerence for its own sake is not a desirable quality in anyone much less the President of the United States.

Anecdotally I am aware of a number of persons who voted for Barack Obama and then in 2016 voted for Donald Trump. This makes no sense. President Trump has spent the first two years of his Presidency trying to dismantle all the programs President Obama put in place.  If these voters viewed programs enacted or proposed instead of viewing the Presidents as personalities as such this outcome would be impossible. Here we are in America in the 21st century and "independence of mind" is still in short supply.