de Tocqueville: Democracy in America

For those raised in the USA, or even living under its influence, it is easy to overlook the fact that the country represents one of the great riddles of the modern world--both historically, and in political philosophy. Many other political experiments have been tried in the modern era--almost all collapsed. The USA is still big, powerful, wealthy, and (relatively) stable. Why?

The French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting the young USA in the 1830s, keenly sensed this strangeness of America. Though himself sympathetic to monarchy, he by many accounts came as close as anyone to understanding the potentials--and dangers--of the American democratic "experiment".

de Tocqueville's magnum opus, "Democracy in America", is as much a work of on-the-ground sociology as of political philosophy. It describes an America of almost 2 centuries ago, so we have to constantly question how much it applies to today's USA. It is also around 800 pages, so there is no chance of covering all of it here.

But let's give it a look. To get a taste, let's discuss these sections:

• Introduction;
• Book 1, Part 2, Ch 3: "On Freedom of the Press in the United States";
• Book 1, Part 2, Ch 5: "On the Government of Democracy in America";
• From Book 1, Part 2, Ch 7, the short sections "Tyranny of the Majority" and "On the Power that the Majority Exercises over Thought"

The full book can be found at: (https://archive.org/details/tocqueville-democracy-in-america-text.-mansfield.num_202207).

Hope to see you soon!