Democracy was achieved by such a long arduous and heroic struggle that it can feel embarrassing even shameful to be pretty
Disappointed by it
Perhaps the best guy to such feelings and to Modern democracy in general is a 19th century French aristocrat
[Alexis] De [Tocqueville]
Photo Tocqueville Democracy was a highly exotic and new political option he'd been born in
1805 when Napoleon was the populist dictator of half of Europe
But he prescient lee believed that democracy was going to be the future all over the world and so he wanted to know
What would that be like?
To find out he set out to America with a grant from the French government
he arrived in New York together with his friend who [stabbed] a boomer in may of
1831 and then embarked on a nine-month journey around the new Nation after
His journey he compiled his thoughts into one of the greatest works of political philosophy
Democracy in America published in 1835 in
The book De Tocqueville was particularly alive to the problematic and darker sides of Democracy five issues struck him in particular
in France the society that the Tocqueville knew from childhood
Making money didn't appear at the Forefront of People's
Minds the poor had almost no chance of acquiring wealth and the tiny upper stratum of landed aristocrats
Didn't need [to] make any more money as a result for very different reasons [money] was not the way to judge a life
However the Americans that de tocqueville met on his journey believed constantly that through hard work
It was possible [to] make a fortune and to do so was entirely admirable and right
Money seem to be quite simply the only achievement that Americans
Respected for example the top fill observed that in America people believed that a book that did not sell well
Just couldn't be any good because the only test of goodness for any item was how much money it happens to make
Democracy and capitalism had thus created seemingly equitable
But also very flat an oppressive way for humans to judge each other
In a chapter of democracy in America entitled why the Americans are often so restless in the midst of their prosperity?
[de] Tocqueville sketched an enduring analysis of the relationship between high expectations and
Dissatisfaction between political equality and envy he wrote when all the prerogatives of birth and fortune have been abolished
When every profession is open to everyone an ambitious man
May think it is easy to launch himself on a great career and feel that he has been called to no common destiny
But this is a delusion which experience quickly
Corrects when inequality is the general rule in Society the greatest inequalities attract, no attention
But when everything is more or less level the slightest variation is noticed that is the reason for the strange
Melancholy often haunting inhabitants of democracies in the
Midst of abundance and of that disgust with life sometimes gripping them even in calm and easy
circumstances the Old Rigid Hierarchical
European system that had denied all hope of social movement to the poor was unjust in a thousand all too obvious
ways to Tocqueville recognized
But it had offered those on the lower rungs one notable
freedom the freedom not to have to take the achievements of quite so many people in Society as
Reference points, and then find themselves severely wanting in status and importance as a result
Typically we think of democracy as being the opposite of Tyranny
But de Tocqueville noticed that democracy could easily create its own specialized type of tyranny that of the majority
Democratic culture he thought often ends up demonizing any assertion of difference an especially cultural superiority
Even though such attitudes might be connected [with] real merit in a tyranny of the majority a society has an aggressive
leveling instinct
It's regarded as a civic virtue to take on anyone who seems to be getting above
Themselves and to cut them viciously down to size
The Tocqueville was disturbed by the way in which in the [united] [States] people have no distinction
Refused to think that anyone could be better than them just because they had say
Trained to be a doctor for seven years or study the law for two decades or written some very good books [a] healthy and admirable
reluctance to defer to people [too] easily
Encouraged an unhelpful refusal to accept any kind of submission at all and yet as the Tocqueville saw it
it simply must be the case that some people in society are wiser more intelligent kinder or more mature than others and
Therefore should be listened to with special attention
Democracy was the Tocqueville thought fatally biased towards mediocrity
You suppose that democracy would encourage citizens to have an open mind however de Tocqueville came to the opposite conclusion
That one could find few places with less independence of mind and true freedom of discussion than in America
trusting that their system was fair [and] just
Americans simply gave up on critical thinking and put their faith in newspapers, and so called common [sense] instead
Furthermore as this was a commercial society
Americans were very conscious of not wanting to step too far out of line with their neighbors who might also be customers
It was better to trot out cliches than to try to be original and never more so [than] when there was something to sell
although to Tocqueville says a lot of really quite grim things about Democracy and America the top fill wasn't anti-democratic or
Anti-American he was just trying to show why living in a democracy could in some key ways be really quite annoying and frustrating
He is teaching us the stoic lesson that certain pains just need to be expected don't be too surprised or shocked
Don't come along with the wrong expectations
Politics in a democracy [it's] going to be pretty awful in some major ways. It's not that we're doing anything specifically wrong
It's just the price you pay and should be willing to pay when you give ultimate [authority] to everyone
you