"My aim has been to show, by the American example, that laws and more especially mores can allow a democratic people to remain free. But I am very far from thinking that we should follow the example of American democracy and imitate the means that it has used to attain this end, for I am well aware of the influence of the nature of a country and of antecedent events on political constitutions, and I should regard it aw a great misfortune for mankind if liberty were bound always and in all places to have the same features." - Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Page 315)
In this section of Tocqueville, his "love letter" dwindles off into his suggestions of what his French audience should look at critically when examining American democracy. He uses aristocracy a measuring stick for the effectiveness of American democracy. For example, Tocqueville observes that often laws are passed in the United States that are contradictory to the idea of Democracy. On this note, he goes on to say that United States democracy lacks the far-sightedness of an aristocracy because its leadership changings by the whim of the elected. Tocqueville identified that the driving force behind the American Dmeocracy was patriotism, or the loyalty of its citizens to the government which Tocqueville warns will only last to long as people feel that they are benefited to the government.
As a consolation for Tocqueville's "breakup", he describes at length the romanticism of the American frontier, and the endless possibilities for the Unitied States. Yet, he does so urging his reader's to come to their own critical conclusions.
At this point, Tocqueville's motivation for simply better his nation of France couldn't be more apparent, but I now appreciate his outside view on American democracy.
Paige,
ReplyDeleteContrary to what he writes about Americans' "irritable" patriotism, you seem to appreciate him more when he is critical then when he is adoring. No doubt we learn from both.
LLD