In short, Tocqueville was saying that most Americans would
rather think on their own, look over all sides of things and draw their own
conclusions than give credence to the so-called "authority" of the experts.
One
side of this coin is a trust in one's own mind, thoughts and abilities, and the
other side is a deeply imbedded mistrust of experts, officials, politicians,
bureaucrats or anyone else claiming any kind of superiority, credibility, class
standing, celebrity or special credentials.
The American founders wrote this
philosophy right into our founding documents when they outlawed titles of
nobility.