Alexis de Tocqueville Would Have Written: “Oligarchy in America”
It’s the birthday of French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville who came to the U.S. about half a century after it was formed to observe and critique its fledgling democracy. Amazed with what he saw, he wrote in his book Democracy in America (1835): “There is one thing which America demonstrates invincibly, and of which I had been in doubt up till now: it is that the middle classes can govern a state. I do not know if they would come out with credit from thoroughly difficult political situations. But they are adequate for the ordinary run of society. In spite of their petty passions, their incomplete education and their vulgar manners, they clearly can provide practical intelligence, and that is found to be enough.”
Of course, this is pure speculation, but one would guess that Tocqueville would have more or less agreed with what he had written if he were here anytime until just a year ago. He certainly would have been impressed that the U.S. democracy was strong enough, and its people honest enough, to expel Nixon in 1974.
But is it possible to imagine that he would still hold that position, given the results of the 2016 election and its aftermath? It appears that we no longer have the strength and integrity required to admit that we made a horrible mistake, and to take the steps, painful though they may be, to correct the error. Our democracy appears to be headed towards its grave, and if it gets there, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.
Craig,
Do you actually read any history, or rely on the Readers Digest condensed version, or Wikipedia ?
Had you actually read,’Democracy in America’, you would have discovered Alexis de Tocqueville criticized President Andrew Jackson as a slave owning tyrant and demagogue.
Jackson performed many inhuman and illegal acts, including refusing to obey the Supreme Court and proudly announcing he would only obey the US Constitution when convenient !
I would imagine given the blatant, unlawful, corrupt, often venal conduct by the majority of US Presidents, Presidents Trump’s transgressions are pretty mild, and mostly imaginary.
Had you also bothered to read a little of Alexis de Tocqueville’s work(unless you have and are just being disingenuous) you would have found the Frenchman had much in common with President Trump !
Here’s a quote from De Tocqueville of Islam.
“I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of violent decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself.”
I fear were he alive today, Alexis would class you as a “trouble making, vexatious hysteric”.
While French Foreign Minister, De Tocqueville urged his colleague the Interior Minister, to declare martial law, while he as magistrate of Paris initiated the arrest of anti-government demonstrators
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In 1848 De Tocqueville supported laws restricting political freedoms, approved two laws voted restricting political assembly, trade unions and political parties.
He also advocated restricting freedom of the Press and arrested many editors and journalists.
I’m not sure if you met De Tocqueville you would approve of him, and I doubt whether he would approve of you 🙂