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1-Page Summary of Democracy In America
Overview
Tocqueville undertook a very ambitious project. He wanted to study a stable and prosperous democracy in order to determine how it worked. His studies led him to conclude that the movement toward equality was inevitable, but he wanted to analyze it so that governments could be formed for its preservation. Tocqueville looked at all of his observations on American democracy through one lens: the preservation of liberty amidst growing equality. The second volume focused more on individuals and their thoughts/morals, while Volume One focused mostly on government institutions and structures that helped preserve freedom in America. There are two main problems with democracies: an abuse or lack of love for freedom, as well as excessive individualism (materialism). The elements most successful at combating these dangerous democratic tendencies are: an independent judiciary branch, strong executive power, local self-government, administrative decentralization, religion, educated women, freedom of association and press.
The dangers of democracy are mainly societal. There is a danger that the legislature will become tyrannical because it has too much power. The President’s power is weakened by his ability to run for re-election, which makes him more susceptible to public opinion and less able to make independent decisions. This indirectly increases the power of the legislature because they can use public opinion as leverage against the President when he tries to do something unpopular with voters. Another problem in American democracy is that legislative representatives are elected directly and serve short terms in office, so they have little time or incentive to act according to their best judgment; instead, they must worry about what people think about them. By contrast, Senators are elected indirectly and serve longer terms than Representatives, so they have more experience and intelligence on average than Representatives do. Perhaps indirect election should be used for both houses of Congress. Otherwise, laws may continue being mediocre or contradictory if nothing changes in our government structure.
Although the political and institutional problems are serious, they’re not as dangerous to democracy as excessive love for equality. In fact, that’s really what all these problems stem from. Democracy is based on the idea of equality, so if everyone is equal then no one person has any right to rule over another. The only just way to run a society is by basing decisions on majority opinion. However, this can lead to despotism because there are no checks on the power of the majority and those in minority will be helplessly at their mercy—even worse than physical coercion or brutality under past tyrannies. In Chapter 7 Tocqueville states that “under absolute government even tyranny was clumsy; but modern democratic republics have perfected it.”
Two other side effects of equalityboth of which also increase the likelihood of despotismare individualism and materialism. Tocqueville points out that individualism is a by-product of democracy, because people are less likely to feel connected in an egalitarian society. Materialism can occur when citizens think they should be able to have as much wealth as everyone else. Both tendencies can lead to despotism, since individuals may not fulfill their civic duties or exercise their freedom if they are too focused on themselves or pursuing wealth.
Fortunately, Tocqueville recognizes that there are institutions in the United States which can help preserve liberty. The judiciary and jury system play important roles in keeping tyranny at bay. Judges are appointed for life terms, making them independent of public opinion, unlike elected officials who might be swayed by popular whims. Juries force citizens to think about other people’s affairs and educate them on how to use their freedom effectively. Local self-government is also crucial as a means to keep liberty alive because it allows the citizens frequent opportunities to exercise it. This helps maintain their taste for freedom and makes them good at using it effectively later on when they need to make tough decisions like during times of crisis or war.
