Entries by Margaret Alvine

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Essay 31: What Are the Real Advantages That American Society Derives From the Government of Democracy (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 6, Subchs. 1-2)

How to Re-ignite Patriotism in America

Has patriotism become unfashionable? Last year, a Wall Street Journal poll reported that just 38% of Americans view patriotism as very important. That’s down from the 70% who said the same in 1998. The question is, why?

De Tocqueville, the famous French author who loved America, offers some insights. In his essay, “On Public Spirit in the United States,” he describes two kinds of patriotism, warns of the moments when patriotism fades, and offers a solution for patriotic renewal.

The first kind of patriotism is instinctive. People love their home, and that “love intermingles with the taste for old customs, with respect for ancestors and memory of the past.” This patriotism, more monarchical in character, rests on old orders and traditions. It ebbs and flows, reigniting and then subsiding in times of war and peace.

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Essay 30: Government By Democracy In America (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 5, Subch. 15) of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

Governing the external affairs of a state involves a particular set of skills. Foreign policy requires the combined use of patience, prudence, secrecy, and long-term strategic thinking. It entails grave risks and difficult trade-offs. Decision-makers, who should be free of the passions that grip the people, must make cold-blooded calculations in the national interest. Such is the view of De Tocqueville. In contrast to the “good sense” of democracy guiding domestic affairs, De Tocqueville observes that foreign affairs demand these aristocratic attributes. Certain qualities of democracy stop at the water’s edge.

As De Tocqueville explains, American elites of the Early Republic possessed the leadership qualities necessary to ensure that democracy flourished at home while America advanced its interests abroad. Although seemingly a contradictory stance, De Tocqueville’s advocacy for their role in directing foreign affairs was not incompatible with his republican predilection. Rather, as he contends, aristocrats and commoners alike had a shared interest in the prosperity and security of the United States.

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Essay 29: Government By Democracy In America (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 5, Subchs. 12-14)

These sub-chapters on America’s “Government by Democracy” address a crucial theme of the work: constitutional republic versus democracy. De Tocqueville befriends the new phenomenon of mass, egalitarian democracy, especially its success in America (so far). Yet as a genuine friend, he notes both weaknesses and strengths. His tough-love message: beware too much of a good thing. Too much democracy, and its ideal of equality, undermines America’s other great principles. These include: liberty and self-government; the rule of law; moral principles mostly stemming from Christianity yet sustained by religious liberty; and, striving for happiness (per the Declaration) in ways that ennoble life, not cheapen it. The tough-love messages in these sub-chapters address: public morality, particularly corrupt officials; can our democratic spirit sustain hard struggles (e.g. extended wars); can the people heed the wiser policy judgments of “statesmen;” and, can we exercise the self-control and far-sighted thinking necessary to survive and prosper in a dangerous world.

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Essay 28: Government By Democracy In America (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 5, Subchs. 4-5)

Though well-known for his political and social commentary, De Tocqueville devoted considerable attention throughout his life to issues of political economy. He was well-versed in the economic writings of thinkers like Jacques Turgot, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. De Tocqueville also explored some of the pressing economic topics of his time in texts such as his Memoir on Pauperism (1835).

Educated Europeans of De Tocqueville’s era were well-aware of the burgeoning economic power of the American republic that he visited for 10 months between 1831 and 1832. In Democracy in America, however, De Tocqueville’s thoughts on economic topics revolved around questions concerning the effects of democracy upon government expenditures.
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Essay 27: Government By Democracy In America (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 5, Subchs. 6-7) 196-199

Today, many citizens worry that bureaucrats are unaccountable and unresponsive to the interests of majorities, while other citizens worry that the bureaucracies are too politicized and too open to manipulation. As we can see from these selections of De Tocqueville, this is a long-standing concern for democratic governance. In these chapters, De Tocqueville suggests that democratic systems can be as arbitrary and unstable as despotic states because democratic majorities, just as a despot, can press the administrators to follow their desires. As a result, he argues that democratic majorities do not worry about the power of administrators because they believe that those administrators work on their behalf. If interests of a democratic majority change, they can simply change the actions of the administrators or the administrators themselves….
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Essay 26: Government By Democracy In America: Influence that American Democracy Exerts on Electoral Laws

“When election comes only at long intervals, the state runs a risk of being overturned in each election.”
-De Tocqueville

In a span of a few pages in the first volume of Democracy in America, Alexis De Tocqueville discusses the implications of the frequency of American elections and the significance of the un-exalted position of civil servants in the United States. In each case, De Tocqueville’s arguments hinge on the importance of time horizons in understanding the behavior of public officials in the nation.

De Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831, along with his friend and collaborator, Gustave de Beaumont, officially to do research on penal conditions in the United States. This did result in a report that was presented to the French government, but of more significance was De Tocqueville’s book, Democracy in America. This was an analysis of more than government and politics, but also social conditions and a civic society that De Tocqueville believed gave rise to a form of governance that was unknown in Europe. De Tocqueville based his conclusions on observations carried out over several months. De Tocqueville visited seventeen of the twenty-four states then making up the union. He also briefly traveled through a bit of Canada. He only spent a few weeks in Washington, DC, so the bulk of what he learned about the country came from witnessing happenings outside the capitol. His observations also took place in a year in which no presidential or congressional elections were held. Much of what he learned came from witnessing politics and society at the local level.

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Essay 25: Government By Democracy In America

At the beginning of the chapter, De Tocqueville gives us a hint about what is to come. He wrote, “I know here I am walking on ground that is afire. Each word of this chapter must offend on some points the different parties that divide my country. I shall not speak less than all my thought” (187).

What a remarkable introduction. He tells his readers that he knows his arguments are controversial, so much so that the topics he is about to discuss are on fire! While his opinions will offend almost everyone, he promises honesty in his analysis. These eye-opening sentences place the reader on high alert. We must proceed with caution.
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Essay 24: On Political Association in the United States (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch.4) of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“Of all the countries in the world, America has taken greatest advantage of association and has applied this powerful means of action to the greatest variety of objectives” –De Tocqueville

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Essay 23: Freedom of the Press in the United States (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 3) of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“Our Founding Fathers saw freedom of the press as a foundational element of being a free and sovereign people. They had seen Redcoats arrest writers and destroy printing presses used to publish papers that were critical of Parliament and the Crown. So they made sure that our First Amendment specifically prohibited the government from abridging the freedom of the press and of speech.

De Tocqueville, a Frenchmen, came to study and analyze democracy in America and what made it work. His seminal work was the book – Democracy in America which he published in 1835. Not surprisingly, it includes an extensive discussion of freedom of the press,” today’s essayist, George Landrith

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Essay 22: Parties In The United States (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 2) of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“If nothing else, the same political party could ultimately be on opposite sides of the national banking issue, demonstrating De Tocqueville’s point.” Today’s essayst, Horace Cooper.

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Essay 21: Why It Can Be Firmly Stated That In The United States It Is The People Who Govern

“With a few caveats, the system studied by De Tocqueville has weathered well most of the storms of the last two and a half centuries. The franchise has been expanded to the point that every law-abiding American citizen is eligible to participate in the electoral process, serve on juries, and be part of national, regional, and local governance. This evolution is a testament to the dynamic nature of our governance system.” — Peter Roff

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Essay 20: Tocqueville on the Distinctiveness of American Federalism – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8

“To undertake the careful discrimination between which government has authority to do what, to discern the limits of both state and federal government in their respective spheres, requires ‘a people long habituated to directing its affairs by itself, and in which political science has descended to the last ranks of society.’” — Joseph M. Knippenberg

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Essay 19: Federalism and Democracy – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 22

“In order to construct modern, centralized states on the model advocated by Machiavelli, European monarchs weakened the aristocratic class, which had ruled the feudal states, characterized by weak monarchs and powerful landlords. Weak aristocracies meant increasingly egalitarian civil societies beneath the modern states, whether their regimes were monarchic or republican. For De Tocqueville, ‘democracy’ is not itself a regime, and equality is neither a natural or legal right; democracy is a social condition, one that must be understood clearly if it does not descend into despotism. As the most thoroughly democratized society in the world in the 1830s (this, despite slavery), America fascinated the young French aristocrat, living in the aftermath of the debacle of the French republicanism in the 1790s and of French monarchy in the 1780s and again in the Napoleonic Wars.”
-Will Morrisey

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Essay 18: On The Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapter 21

The French writer De Tocqueville traveled in and wrote about the culture and politics of the new American Republic between 1835 and 1840. His work has become a classic of political thought and is considered one of the most insightful analyses of the early Republic and its institutions. Democracy in America is De Tocqueville’s most important work, particularly for our consideration of the Constitution.

The question in subchapter 21 is a crucial one, even in current discourse on the Constitution. De Tocqueville asks what makes the American Constitution different from other constitutions. In his day, the American version was certainly not the only constitution in effect (even less so today). In addition, several elements set the American compact apart from other similar documents, such as Poland and France. De Tocqueville focuses on one aspect—a very important one. As he explains it, the most unique innovation of the American Constitution is that, unlike the previous Articles of Confederation, whose provisions only allowed the national government to operate on state governments as a whole, the new compact’s provisions operated directly on citizens of each state. Before, the state governments could, and sometimes did, simply refuse to follow laws enacted by Congress based on its powers. As De Tocqueville writes, “In America, the Union has, not states, but plain citizens, for those governed.” The new Constitution bypasses the states in the exercise of its enumerated powers.

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Essay 17: On The Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapter 20

In this section of Democracy in America, De Tocqueville claims that the national constitution is superior to those found in the states. In making this case, he points to a broader purpose of his project.

As he stated early in the work, De Tocqueville thinks that a general movement toward democratic forms of government are inevitable, part of a Providential movement in history. Yet he believes humans possess the ability to make their democracies better or worse. Here, he notes two problems democracies tend to face. Both he claims the national constitution combats better than its state counterparts.

First, De Tocqueville writes that one danger for democracies is the possibility of “[t]he complete enslavement of the legislative power to the will of the electoral body.” One might think this point is a good thing, a feature, not a bug. Should not the lawmakers in a popular government follow the will of the people, who by definition are the sovereign in such regimes?

De Tocqueville does not deny the ultimate sovereignty of the people. But he wants the people to exercise their rule in the most thoughtful, moderate, and just way possible. The people do so best through representatives who themselves possess some ability to lead and thus to mold popular opinion rather than merely follow it. This balance, wherein the representatives truly represent but do so with some room to persuade, depends in large part on the terms of office lawmakers hold.

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Essay 16: On The Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 15-19

“A federal government stands in greater need of the support of judicial institutions than any other, because it is naturally weak and exposed to formidable opposition.” – Alexis de Tocqueville
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Essay 15: On The Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 11-14

“…De Tocqueville remains impressed by the “mode of election” for American Presidents, recognizing that the Electoral College “express[es] the real will of the people.” He notes the difficulty in getting a majority to support any candidate “at the first stroke,” especially given the size and nature of the country. Electing a special body (the Electoral College) to make this decision struck De Tocqueville as an efficient process for reaching agreement on a candidate. It would also better reflect the will of the people than legislative selection.”

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Essay 14: On the Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 7-10 of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“Just now Washington contains the most important men of the whole Union. We no longer seek instructions from them on subjects of which we are ignorant; instead, we reexamine, in conversation with them, everything which we already know, more or less.” – Alexis De Tocqueville

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Essay 13: On The Federal Constitution – Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 5-6

“Just now Washington contains the most important men of the whole Union. We no longer seek instructions from them on subjects of which we are ignorant; instead, we reexamine, in conversation with them, everything which we already know, more or less.” – Alexis De Tocqueville

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Essay 12: On the Federal Constitution– Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 8 Sub Chapters 1-4 of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“…. what is new in the history of societies is to see a great people, warned by its legislators that the wheels of government are stopping, turn its regard upon itself without haste and without fear, sound the depth of the ill, contain itself for two entire years in order to discover the remedy at leisure, and
when the remedy is pointed out, submit voluntarily to it without its costing humanity one tear or drop of blood.” – Alexis De Tocqueville

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Essay 11: On Political Judgment in the United States Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 7 of Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

“[Political jurisdiction is] to withdraw power from someone who makes a bad use of it and to prevent this same citizen from being vested with it in the future.” – Alexis De Tocqueville

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