de Tocqueville: Democracy in America (2)

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 (kind of) stable. Why?

The French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting the young USA in the 1830s, keenly sensed this strangeness of America and of modern democracy. 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".

This time around, we'll be finishing our lightning tour of Tocqueville's 800-page magnum opus, "Democracy in America", by diving into volume 2. The full text can be found at: (https://archive.org/details/tocqueville-democracy-in-america-text.-mansfield.num_202207). Here are the sections we'll focus on (seems like a lot but most of these are very short):

Vol 2, Part 1, Ch. 2 & 8:
"On the Principal Source of Beliefs among Democratic Peoples"
"How Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite Perfectibility of Man"
Vol 2, Part 2, Ch 2 & 13:
"On Individualism in Democratic Countries"
"Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being"
Vol 2, Part 3, Ch 21:
"Why Great Revolutions Will Become Rare"
Vol. 2, Part 4, Ch. 6:
"What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear"

Hope to see you soon!