Tocqueville Forum

A Letter of Thanks

Received from a Tocqueville Forum Student Fellow:

April 9, 2009

Dear Professor Deneen,

I would like to begin by thanking you for helping create the Conference on the American Polity.  This was a weekend of many firsts and I owe you a great debt of gratitude.

Last Saturday was my first ever visit to Princeton and I think I told you and must say I was rather awed by the campus in all of its splendor.  What made the day even better, though, was the quality of the academic conversations going on that day on a variety of subjects I care about very deeply.  From the time I entered the Lewis Library that morning, my mind was academically stimulated as is rarely equaled in my daily studies.  Personally and professionally, I felt comfortable and at home, something hard to do in a typical college environment.

Thanks to so many people and ultimately yourself, Professor Deneen, the Tocqueville Forum has provided an umbrella under which I am freely encouraged to explore some of my political and philosophical ideas.  I am relatively new to a lot of political philosophy but am devouring every chance to expand my knowledge.  The more I read and study, the more everything starts to make sense to me and the more I realize the importance of not forgetting those who laid the foundation for us today.  I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Cicero, "To not know what happened before you were born is to forever remain a child.  For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?"  In large part due to the Tocqueville Forum and its lectures and discussions, I am achieving the undergraduate education I expected from a university like Georgetown, but was sorely missing.

It is my hope to one day become a professor of American government and so I am greatly thankful for the opportunity to prepare and present some of my own research with my peers for the first time.  This weekend provided me with a glimpse of what I can only hope is a similarly satisfying academic career.  What better opportunity to sink my teeth into acadmic conferences than the Conference on the American Polity?  For all of this, I thank you and look forward to another great conference next year on the Hilltop.

With kindest regards,

C.R.

C'10