Democracy in America; Volume II

<b>“Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free: as they cannot destroy either one or the other of these contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at once. They devise a sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of government, but elected by the people. They combine the principle of centralization and that of popular sovereignty; this gives them a respite: they console themselves for being in tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own guardians. Every man allows himself to be put in leading-strings, because he sees that it is not a person or a class of persons, but the people at large that holds the end of his chain.<br /><br />By this system the people shake off their state of dependence just long enough to select their master, and then relapse into it again. A great many persons at the present day are quite contented with this sort of compromise between administrative despotism and the sovereignty of the people; and they think they have done enough for the protection of individual freedom when they have surrendered it to the power of the nation at large. This does not satisfy me: the nature of him I am to obey signifies less to me than the fact of extorted obedience.”</b><br /><br /><br />“I am trying to imagine under what novel features despotism may appear in the world. In the first place, I see an innumerable multitude of men, alike and equal, constantly circling around in pursuit of the petty and banal pleasures with which they glut their souls. Each one of them, withdrawn into himself, is almost unaware of the fate of the rest….<br /><br />Over this kind of men stands an immense, protective power which is alone responsible for securing their enjoyment and watching over their fate. That power is absolute, thoughtful of detail, orderly, provident, and gentle. It would resemble parental authority if, fatherlike, it tried to prepare charges for a man’s life, but on the contrary, it only tries to keep them in perpetual childhood. It likes to see the citizens enjoy themselves, provided that they think of nothing but enjoyment. It gladly works for their happiness but wants to be sole agent and judge of it. It provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasure, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, makes rules for their testaments, and divides their inheritances. Why should it not entirely relieve them from the trouble of thinking and all the cares of living?<br /><br />Thus it daily makes the exercise of free choice less useful and rarer, restricts the activity of free will within a narrower compass, and little by little robs each citizen of the proper use of his own faculties. Equality has prepared men for all this, predisposing them to endure it and often even regard it as beneficial.<br /><br />Having thus taken each citizen in turn in its powerful grasp and shaped him to its will, government then extends its embrace to include the whole of society. It covers the whole of social life with a network of petty complicated rules that are both minute and uniform, through which even men of the greatest originality and the most vigorous temperament cannot force their heads above the crowd. It does not break men’s will, but softens, bends, and guides it; it seldom enjoins, but often inhibits, action; it does not destroy anything, but prevents much being born; it is not at all tyrannical, but it hinders, restrains, enervates, stifles, and stultifies so much that in the end each nation is no more than a flock of timid and hardworking animals with the government as its shepherd.” <br /><br />----------<br /><br /><b>"Nos contemporains sont incessamment travaillés par deux passions ennemies : ils sentent le besoin d’être conduits et l’envie de rester libres. Ne pouvant détruire ni l’un ni l’autre de ces instincts contraires, ils s’efforcent de les satisfaire à la fois tous les deux. Ils imaginent un pouvoir unique, tutélaire, tout-puissant, mais élu par les citoyens. [...]<br /><br />Il y a, de nos jours, beaucoup de gens qui s’accommodent très aisément de cette espèce de compromis entre le despotisme administratif et la souveraineté du peuple, et qui pensent avoir assez garanti la liberté des individus, quand c’est au pouvoir national qu’ils la livrent. Cela ne me suffit point. La nature du maître m’importe bien moins que l’obéissance." </b><br />- Alexis de Tocqueville, De la démocratie en Amérique, t.2 (1840)<br /><br />------------<br /><br /><b>DE LA DÉMOCRATIE EN AMÉRIQUE, T.2.</b><br /><br />Ce volume écrit quelque cinq ans après le premier revient sur les traits distinctifs du régime politique démocratique tel que l'envisage Tocqueville après son voyage de neuf mois aux États-Unis en 1831-2.<br /><br /><br /><b>1) Tocqueville aborde l'influence générale de la démocratie :</b><br /><br />- Sur l'industrie et le commerce,<br />- Sur l'évolution de la langue,<br />- Sur les objets que se donne la littérature du pays (l'humanité, l'avenir, les objets les plus vastes),<br />- Sur les traditions intellectuelles du pays (dilettantisme, goût des idées générales, prédilection pour les gains faciles),<br />- Sur les mœurs, les liens sociaux et sur les familles,<br />- Sur la notion de l'honneur, <br />- Sur les armées et leur mode d'action (conscription, ambition de l'avancement,...) <br /><br /><br /><b>2) Tocqueville étudie dans le détail l'influence qu'ont l'égalité des conditions et le goût du bien-être matériel sur la centralisation politique et administrative, et celle-ci sur les libertés individuelles.</b><br /><br />Il donne à voir les vertus et les écueils de la démocratie (passion de l'égalité, individualisme borné, grande docilité face à un pouvoir central qui concentre de plus en plus de prérogatives et exerce une surveillance de plus en plus grande des individus), qui peut aboutir aux pires forme de servitude qui soient.<br /><br /><br /><b>3) Enfin, il s'interroge : comment combattre les maux et périls que la démocratie ne manque pas d'apporter avec elle ?</b><br /><br />D'après l'auteur, la religion est l'un des éléments qui peuvent le mieux contrebalancer les défauts inhérents à la démocratie : amour excessif du bien-être matériel, égalitarisme passionné, individualisme borné...<br /><br />D'autres éléments de réponse à ces périls sont les contre-pouvoirs comme les associations et les médias ; en règle générale tout ce qui permet l'exercice par tous des libertés politiques citoyennes.<br /><blockquote> <b>'Je veux imaginer sous quels traits nouveaux le despotisme pourrait se produire dans le monde : je vois une foule innombrable d’hommes semblables et égaux qui tournent sans repos sur eux-mêmes pour se procurer de petits et vulgaires plaisirs, dont ils emplissent leur âme. Chacun d’eux, retiré à l’écart, est comme étranger à la destinée de tous les autres : ses enfants et ses amis particuliers forment pour lui toute l’espèce humaine ; quant au demeurant de ses concitoyens, il est à côté d’eux, mais il ne les voit pas ; il les touche et ne les sent point ; il n’existe qu’en lui-même et pour lui seul, et, s’il lui reste encore une famille, on peut dire du moins qu’il n’a plus de patrie.<br /><br />Au-dessus de ceux-là s’élève un pouvoir immense et tutélaire, qui se charge seul d’assurer leurs jouissances et de veiller sur leur sort. Il est absolu, détaillé, régulier, prévoyant et doux. Il ressemblerait à la puissance paternelle, si, comme elle, il avait pour objet de préparer les hommes à l’âge viril ; mais il ne cherche, au contraire, qu’à les fixer irrévocablement dans l’enfance ; il aime que les citoyens se réjouissent, pourvu qu’ils ne songent qu’à se réjouir. Il travaille volontiers à leur bonheur ; mais il veut en être l’unique agent et le seul arbitre ; il pourvoit à leur sécurité, prévoit et assure leurs besoins, facilite leurs plaisirs, conduit leurs principales affaires, dirige leur industrie, règle leurs successions, divise leurs héritages, que ne peut-il leur ôter entièrement le trouble de penser et la peine de vivre ?' <br /><br />'C’est ainsi que tous les jours il rend moins utile et plus rare l’emploi du libre arbitre ; qu’il renferme l’action de la volonté dans un plus petit espace, et dérobe peu à peu à chaque citoyen jusqu’à l’usage de lui-même. L’égalité a préparé les hommes à toutes ces choses : elle les a disposés à les souffrir et souvent même à les regarder comme un bienfait.<br /><br />Après avoir pris ainsi tour à tour dans ses puissantes mains chaque individu, et l’avoir pétri à sa guise, le souverain étend ses bras sur la société tout entière ; il en couvre la surface d’un réseau de petites règles compliquées, minutieuses et uniformes, à travers lesquelles les esprits les plus originaux et les âmes les plus vigoureuses ne sauraient se faire jour pour dépasser la foule ; il ne brise pas les volontés, mais il les amollit, les plie et les dirige ; il force rarement d’agir, mais il s’oppose sans cesse à ce qu’on agisse ; il ne détruit point, il empêche de naître ; il ne tyrannise point, il gêne, il comprime, il énerve, il éteint, il hébète, et il réduit enfin chaque nation a n’être plus qu’un troupeau d’animaux timides et industrieux, dont le gouvernement est le berger.'</b> </blockquote><br /><br /><br /><b>MES RÉSERVES :</b><br /><br />Pour moi, ce deuxième volume se montre beaucoup trop prolixe et bavard. <br /><br />Les idées exposées méritent sûrement qu'on s'y arrête et qu'on passe du temps à bien les comprendre, et leur auteur défend une vision nuancée et qui dans l'ensemble me paraît juste, mais Tocqueville revenant sans arrêt sur les mêmes observations, on a là de vraies redites, parfois copieuses. <br /><br />Ce livre reprend extensivement certaines idées majeures déjà développées dans le premier volume pour finalement n'apporter pratiquement rien de nouveau, sinon un travail de projection beaucoup moins rigoureux que ce qu'offrait le premier volet.<br /><br />Bref, les idées sont bien argumentées et bien articulées, mais le livre manque cruellement de nerf. Lecteur, je te conseille de passer ton chemin et de lui préférer le premier tome :<br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/478169.De_la_D_mocratie_en_Am_rique__tome_I" title="De la Démocratie en Amérique, tome I by Alexis de Tocqueville" rel="noopener">De la Démocratie en Amérique, tome I</a><br /><br />-------------<br /><br /><b>LECTURES PROCHES :</b><br /><br /><b>Le développement de Tolstoï sur une certaine forme de déterminisme historique qui régit les sociétés humaines :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/634686.La_Guerre_et_la_Paix_II" title="La Guerre et la Paix II by Leo Tolstoy" rel="noopener">La Guerre et la Paix II</a><br /><br /><b>Le discours de Soljénitsyne sur les travers des démocraties modernes selon lui :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/23333174.Le_D_clin_du_courage" title="Le Déclin du courage by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn" rel="noopener">Le Déclin du courage</a><br /><br /><b>Celui du monarchiste Charles Maurras :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/44784566.Mes_id_es_politiques" title="Mes idées politiques by Charles Maurras" rel="noopener">Mes idées politiques</a><br /><br /><b>Le processus de centralisation de l'État et la formation des identités nationales :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/3892606.La_cr_ation_des_identit_s_nationales__Europe__XVIIIe_XXe_si_cle" title="La création des identités nationales. Europe, XVIIIe-XXe siècle by Anne-Marie Thiesse" rel="noopener">La création des identités nationales. Europe, XVIIIe-XXe siècle</a><br /><br /><b>Les dérives de la centralisation et de l'égalitarisme à outrance :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/778459.La_rebeli_n_de_las_masas" title="La rebelión de las masas by José Ortega y Gasset" rel="noopener">La rebelión de las masas</a><br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/225480.La_R_volution_fran_aise_d_clare_la_guerre___l_Europe_L_embrasement_de_l_Europe___la_fin_du_XVIIIe_si_cle" title="La Révolution française déclare la guerre à l'Europe L'embrasement de l'Europe à la fin du XVIIIe siècle by Frank Attar" rel="noopener">La Révolution française déclare la guerre à l'Europe : L'embrasement de l'Europe à la fin du XVIIIe siècle</a><br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/36112576.Nouvelle_histoire_des_guerres_de_Vend_e" title="Nouvelle histoire des guerres de Vendée by Gérard Guicheteau" rel="noopener">Nouvelle histoire des guerres de Vendée</a><br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/24145639.L_URSS__De_la_r_volution___la_mort_de_Staline__1917_1953___Points_Histoire_" title="L'URSS. De la révolution à la mort de Staline (1917-1953) (Points Histoire) by Hélène Carrère d'Encausse" rel="noopener">L'URSS. De la révolution à la mort de Staline (1917-1953)</a><br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1423444.Istanbul_souvenirs_d_une_ville" title="Istanbul souvenirs d'une ville by Orhan Pamuk" rel="noopener">Istanbul: Souvenirs D'une Ville</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Fiction sur la formation des États-Unis :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/76778.The_Martian_Chronicles" title="The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury" rel="noopener">The Martian Chronicles</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Sur les inégalités économiques et leurs justifications. Sur l'histoire de la fiscalité en occident et ailleurs (BRICAS, Afrique subsaharienne, ...) :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/53080643.Capital_et_id_ologie" title="Capital et idéologie by Thomas Piketty" rel="noopener">Capital et idéologie</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Sur les subdivisions du travail industriel et commercial et ses effets sur la société civile.</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/15905982.Le_travail___Une_sociologie_contemporaine" title="Le travail - Une sociologie contemporaine by Michel Lallement" rel="noopener">Le travail - Une sociologie contemporaine</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Sur le mercantilisme et la publicité :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/2072235.Contes_cruels" title="Contes cruels by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam" rel="noopener">Contes cruels</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1062375.99_francs" title="99 francs by Frédéric Beigbeder" rel="noopener">99 francs</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Sur la perversion du rôle joué par les médias aujourd'hui :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/29539901.La_Langue_des_medias_Destruction_du_langage_et_fabrication_du_consentement" title="La Langue des medias Destruction du langage et fabrication du consentement by Ingrid Riocreux" rel="noopener">La Langue des medias : Destruction du langage et fabrication du consentement</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/147191.L_art_du_roman" title="L'art du roman by Milan Kundera" rel="noopener">L'art du roman</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1289411.La_Guerre_du_faux" title="La Guerre du faux by Umberto Eco" rel="noopener">La Guerre du faux</a><br /><br /><b>Sur le rôle de l'association de citoyens comme contre-pouvoir à la centralisation administrative et à la concentration des pouvoirs dans le seul gouvernement :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/45991553.Habiter_en_lutte_Zad_de_Notre_Dame_des_Landes__40_ans_de_r_sistance" title="Habiter en lutte Zad de Notre-Dame-des-Landes. 40 ans de résistance by Collectif Comm'un" rel="noopener">Habiter en lutte : Zad de Notre-Dame-des-Landes. 40 ans de résistance</a><br /><br /><br /><b>Tour de piste de la France contemporaine :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/32511795.Sur_les_chemins_noirs" title="Sur les chemins noirs by Sylvain Tesson" rel="noopener">Sur les chemins noirs</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/40810769.Le_tour_de_la_France_par_deux_enfants_d_aujourd_hui__Equateurs_Litt_rature_" title="Le tour de la France par deux enfants d'aujourd'hui (Equateurs Littérature) by Pierre Adrian" rel="noopener">Le tour de la France par deux enfants d'aujourd'hui</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/8710484.La_carte_et_le_territoire" title="La carte et le territoire by Michel Houellebecq" rel="noopener">La carte et le territoire</a><br /><br /><br /><b>L'avenir possible :</b><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/3172436.Retour_au_meilleur_des_mondes" title="Retour au meilleur des mondes by Aldous Huxley" rel="noopener">Retour au meilleur des mondes</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/239188.Les_Monades_urbaines" title="Les Monades urbaines by Robert Silverberg" rel="noopener">Les Monades urbaines</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/2178575.Tous___Zanzibar" title="Tous à Zanzibar by John Brunner" rel="noopener">Tous à Zanzibar</a><br /><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/8121586.Nous_autres" title="Nous autres by Yevgeny Zamyatin" rel="noopener">Nous autres</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1032151.La_Ferme_des_animaux" title="La Ferme des animaux by George Orwell" rel="noopener">La Ferme des animaux</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/40961427.1984" title="1984 by George Orwell" rel="noopener">1984</a><br /><a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/632416.Le_Meilleur_des_mondes" title="Le Meilleur des mondes by Aldous Huxley" rel="noopener">Le Meilleur des mondes</a><br /><br />------------<br /><br /><b>Bande-son :</b><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DtgWrFTtQk" rel="nofollow noopener">Electioneering - Radiohead</a>

wow un autre livre lu pour l'école que je ne note pas et que je marque uniquement comme lu dans mon étagère goodreads pour me récompenser d'avoir passé à travers mon cours de philo *se tape l'épaule soi-même*

Written over 150 years ago, Democracy In America is even more important and compelling today than it was then. This past fall, I had the opportunity to teach a Government class for my college. My class studied the second volume of this invaluable classic. It was such a pleasure to study it through a mentor's eyes. It truly came alive for me in a way that it never had before as I prepared to teach it.<br /><br />Despite his young age, Tocqueville was a master at understanding human nature. Volume II is filled with both compliments for American culture and cautionary advice for us as citizens. It's amazing how accurate his predictions and warnings were. We are falling into the very snares and excesses about which he cautioned. I wish that all Americans would take the time to read this insightful volume. If we would simply heed Tocqueville's admonitions, we would be well on our way to rebuilding our great American culture and securing our liberty.<br /><br />“When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . . It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . . they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters.” ~Alexis de Tocqueville

Dans cette deuxième partie, Tocquville parle moins de l Amérique et prend de la hauteur pour ne plus que s intéresser a la démocratie proprement dite. Je la trouve plus inégale que la première, quoique certains chapitres soient réellement impressionnants de pénétration.

it's amazing to read a book from so long ago that is so exquisitely detailed about what's going to happen in the future. tocqueville follows democracy through to its most minute consequences and sets forth warnings. many sections of this book were very dense for me, but it was still enjoyable. mostly i appreciated the warning of the gentle power that will eventually permeate from the government throughout all society into the individuals until they become unmotivated to exercise their moral agency and cede more and more of it for the sake of preserving tranquility until they become completely dependent on the government. this is bad! as the tytler cycle illustrates, dependence is the last stage before bondage.

I wrote the foreword to the Laissez Faire ebook edition, available at Amazon and LFB.org.<br /><br />This second volume is more theoretical than the first, which was a survey of the U. S. circa 1835. The author's conclusions on his subject are fascinating. And the chapter on how tyranny can come to a democracy is the most astute secular prophecy I have ever read. Tocqueville limns modern social and political reality from his vantage point in early 19th century. Without seeing one example, Toqueville foresaw the rise (and nature) of the welfare state. An astounding intellectual achievement. Really, this is the classic of its genre, a book every American should read.

La tercera vez que lo leo; esta vez tomando notas en el ordenador...he conseguido reducir los dos tomos a 45 páginas de pasajes que me interesan. Tiempo de cocción de una tesis: mil años.

This second volume is much more of a generic philosophical treatise than the first volume that dealt with the nuts and bolts of the structure of U.S. government. As such, it didn't have as much punch or relevance of the first volume. This volume is divided into two main sections: Section I: Influence of Democracy on the Action of Intellect in The United States. Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans.<br /><br />Here are some quotes I thought were particularly interesting:<br /><br />"It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to Anglo-American society. ... Religious institutions have remained wholly distinct from political institutions, so that former laws have been easily changed whilst former belief has remained unshaken."<br /> <br />"It must be acknowledged that amongst few of the civilized nations of our time have the higher sciences made less progress than in the United States; and in few have great artists, fine poets, or celebrated writers been more rare."<br /> <br />"[The man of action] has perpetually occasion to rely on ideas which he has not had leisure to search to the bottom; for he is much more frequently aided by the opportunity of an idea than by its strict accuracy; and, in the long run, he risks less in making use of some false principles, than in spending his time in establishing all his principles on the basis of truth."<br /> <br />"Taken as a whole, literature in democratic ages can never present, as it does in the periods of aristocracy, an aspect of order, regularity, science, and art; its form will, on the contrary, ordinarily be slighted, sometimes despised. Style will frequently be fantastic, incorrect, overburdened, and loose—almost always vehement and bold. Authors will aim at rapidity of execution, more than at perfection of detail. Small productions will be more common than bulky books; there will be more wit than erudition, more imagination than profundity; and literary performances will bear marks of an untutored and rude vigor of thought--frequently of great variety and singular fecundity. The object of authors will be to astonish rather than to please, and to stir the passions more than to charm the taste. Here and there, indeed, writers will doubtless occur who will choose a different track, and who will, if they are gifted with superior abilities, succeed in finding readers, in spite of their defects or their better qualities; but these exceptions will be rare, and even the authors who shall so depart from the received practice in the main subject of their works, will always relapse into it in some lesser details."<br /> <br />"But what ought to be said to gratify constituents is not always what ought to be said in order to serve the party to which Representatives profess to belong. The general interest of a party frequently demands that members belonging to it should not speak on great questions which they understand imperfectly; that they should speak but little on those minor questions which impede the great ones; lastly, and for the most part, that they should not speak at all. To keep silence is the most useful service that an indifferent spokesman can render to the commonwealth."<br /> <br />"Democracy encourages a taste for physical gratification: this taste, if it become excessive, soon disposes men to believe that all is matter only; and materialism, in turn, hurries them back with mad impatience to these same delights: such is the fatal circle within which democratic nations are driven round."<br /> <br />"Democracy loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature more tight; it brings kindred more closely together, whilst it places the various members of the community more widely apart."<br /> <br />"American women never manage the outward concerns of the family, or conduct a business, or take a part in political life; nor are they, on the other hand, ever compelled to perform the rough labor of the fields, or to make any of those laborious exertions which demand the exertion of physical strength. No families are so poor as to form an exception to this rule. If on the one hand an American woman cannot escape from the quiet circle of domestic employments, on the other hand she is never forced to go beyond it. Hence it is that the women of America, who often exhibit a masculine strength of understanding and a manly energy, generally preserve great delicacy of personal appearance and always retain the manners of women, although they sometimes show that they have the hearts and minds of men."<br /> <br />"I never observed that the women of America consider conjugal authority as a fortunate usurpation of their rights, nor that they thought themselves degraded by submitting to it. It appeared to me, on the contrary, that they attach a sort of pride to the voluntary surrender of their own will, and make it their boast to bend themselves to the yoke, not to shake it off."<br /> <br />"It would seem that in Europe, where man so easily submits to the despotic sway of women, they are nevertheless curtailed of some of the greatest qualities of the human species, and considered as seductive but imperfect beings; and (what may well provoke astonishment) women ultimately look upon themselves in the same light, and almost consider it as a privilege that they are entitled to show themselves futile, feeble, and timid. The women of America claim no such privileges."<br /> <br />"Men who live in democratic countries do not value the simple, turbulent, or coarse diversions in which the people indulge in aristocratic communities: such diversions are thought by them to be puerile or insipid. … He thus enjoys two pleasures; he can go on thinking of his business, and he can get drunk decently by his own fireside."<br /> <br />"If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of the United States--that is to say, they will owe their origin, not to the equality, but to the inequality, of conditions."

Not as good as book one, but still interesting. He speaks of general trends without so much first hand evidence, which makes it slightly more difficult to trace from what he is convinced.

La partie la plus intéressante du second tome traite de l’influence de la démocratie sur le mouvement intellectuel aux États-Unis. Quasiment 2 siècles après la publication du livre, les écrits de Tocqueville sont toujours d’actualité dans les autres démocraties de la planète. L’auteur montre donc que le système démocratique, qui a eu pour influence d’établir l’égalité parmi les hommes, a instauré une certaine médiocrité dans l’intellect quotidien ; que ce soit sur la langue, la littérature, l’histoire, les arts, la poésie, le théâtre … <br />Une analyse politique complémentaire à la philosophie de Nietzsche.