Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience Nov 22, 2009
1Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. Drafting Committee. (Newsmax)
The Ultimate Patriot & Gun Owner Nov 17, 2009
In the 19th century, in a remarkable document entitled Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville recorded his observations of the United States of America, a nation he found to be a truly great and inspired institution. He concluded that there were numerous reasons for this greatness, and that perhaps the most significant of these was the morality of the people of the United States of America. (Human Events Online)
RedState Morning Briefing Oct 8, 2009
Here is the list (again in no particular order): A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt Liberty & Tyranny by Mark Levin The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk Free to Choose by Milton Friedman Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater Federalist Papers Democracy in America by Tocqueville Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis God and Man at Yale by W.F. Buckley Witness by Whittaker Chambers The... (Human Events Online)
COLUMN: Plenty of opportunities to serve, on Sept. 11 and every other day Sep 9, 2009
The council s Web site has a section called United We Serve, which suggests reading Robert Frost s Mending Wall, Martin Luther King Jr. s sermon, The Drum Major Instinct and an excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville s Democracy in America ... De Tocqueville s Democracy in America, written in the 1830s, suggested that equality and the lack of an aristocracy is a reason so many organizations were formed to bring about community improvements. (Mattoon Journal-Gazette, IL)
The Collapse of Virtue Aug 28, 2009
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville worried that free, capitalist societies might develop so great a taste for physical gratification that citizens would be carried away, and lose all self-restraint. Avidly seeking personal gain, they could lose sight of the close connection which exists between the private fortune of each of them and the prosperity of all and ultimately undermine both democracy and prosperity. (The American Conservative)
Know-it-allism our trait Aug 19, 2009
Earlier this summer, I decided to reread Alexis de Tocqueville's 19th-century classic, "Democracy in America." I came away with a picture of Americans as a bunch of disrespectful know-it-alls. Mind you, Tocqueville had no intention of insulting us. (Albany Times Union)
Iran will rise above the ashes Jul 30, 2009
A scholar of The Enlightenment, he praised Alexis de Tocqueville s Democracy in America, which reflects the virtuous and human side of this American civilization. In [Tocqueville s] view, the significance of this civilization is in the fact that liberty found religion as a cradle for its growth, and religion found protection of liberty as its divine calling. (Boston Globe)
Johann N. Neem Jun 28, 2009
NEEM: We have to realize we are engaged in this constant balancing act between two American traditions {hellip} There is a Jeffersonian, Jacksonian, populist tradition that seems to place as much power in the hands of the people as possible, local control, direct democracy, those kinds of things{hellip} [and] the world that Tocqueville described for us in Democracy in America as this proliferation of groups. They are sources of democratic and public life, but we always need to balance them... (Boston Globe)
We need insights, wit from Limbaugh Jun 2, 2009
One of those figures is Alexis de Tocqueville, the French aristocrat who toured the United States in the 1830s and provided an invaluable analysis of the American character and government in his multivolume work, Democracy in America. But to mention his name without the preface of fascist or elitist is to invite suspicions of one s academic credentials and employability. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Opinion)
IN MY LIBRARY: KARL ROVE May 24, 2009
Democracy in America. by Alexis de Tocqueville. (New York Post -- Opinions)
Library to receive grant May 20, 2009
Grades 9 to 12: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis; Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange by Elizabeth Partridge; Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck; Viajes Con Charley En Busca de Am/rica by John Steinbeck (translated by Jos/ Manuel Alvarez Flrez); Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. Bonus: "Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out" by The National Children's Book and Literary Alliance; "1776: The Illustrated... (Yanceyville Caswell Messenger, NC)
Are Americans Ready to Kill the Death Tax? May 14, 2009
Tocqueville explained in his book Democracy in America that soft despotism is closely akin to an overly indulgent, coddling parent. Government willingly works for their [the public s] happiness; but it wants to be the unique agent and sole arbiter of that; it provides for their security, foresees and secures their needs, facilitates their pleasures, conducts their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their estates, divides their inheritances; can it not even take away from them... (Human Events Online)
Upside-Down Economy May 12, 2009
In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville anticipated people being governed by "an immense, tutelary power" determined to take "sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate." It would be a power "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and gentle," aiming for our happiness but wanting "to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness." It would, Tocqueville said, provide people security, anticipate their needs, direct their industries and... (Townhall.com)
Flash Mobs, Tea Parties and Tocqueville Mar 19, 2009
One hundred seventy-nine years after the publication of his "Democracy in America," French aristocrat and author Alexis de Tocqueville remains the most insightful analyst of American political mores. Tocqueville didn't anticipate flash mob technology, but he understood them in America's context. (Townhall.com)
Community organizing gets students engaged Mar 16, 2009
In a recent class, Lachelier referenced Alexis de Tocqueville, the 19th century French historian whose book, "Democracy in America," provided insight into the ways in which the United States might change the world. Grady Ballenger, dean of arts and sciences at Stetson, sees a comparison. (Daytona Beach News Journal)
The Enemy of My Enemy Mar 4, 2009
In a guest actually a short excerpt from Democracy in America that the editors repurposed as "Barack Obama's America"19th-century French journalist Alexis de Tocqueville displays more of the prescience that made him so renowned, warning of the creeping "despotism" in Obamaland. Our new system of governance "is absolute, detailed, regular, far-seeing, and mild." Presumably not in a good way. (Slate)
David Brooks: The worst-case scenario Feb 14, 2009
In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about what happens to a people beset by anxiety: "The taste for public tranquility then becomes a blind passion, and the citizens are liable to conceive a most inordinate devotion to order.". In normal times, Americans would have been skeptical of proposals to double or triple the size of federal programs, but amid the economic fear, that skepticism fell away. (International Herald Tribune)
Review: A Passion for Nature Feb 8, 2009
For authority he cites Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America": "In a seldom-noticed chapter of the book, Tocqueville noted that the liberal democratic revolution seemed to encourage a strong feeling for nature. Its philosophical tendency, he wrote, is to tear down the traditional doctrines of Christianity and put in their place a new religion of nature, or what he called 'pantheism.". What Tocqueville deplored, Worster celebrates. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
