Tocqueville foresaw an “immense tutelary power”-the modern state-which would degrade men rather than destroy their bodies.

This creates fertile ground for a new kind of oppression that “will resemble nothing that has preceded it in the world.”

The influence on the mind of democracy and the majority weakens and isolates individuals. Tocqueville’s Predictions About the Modern State But most revealing is that abstract art is an expression of democracy’s hatred for human greatness, the very theme of art. It’s easy to pontificate about Jackson Pollock, while it’s difficult to understand Michelangelo. Why? Because to experience this kind of art, one needs to only have senses, whereas to experience the art of the past, one needs an education in the classics-the Bible and ancient literature especially. But in modern democracies, art would go in the direction of the majority’s tastes: it would be abstract, focused on color and shape. Art used to be the pictorial representation of man’s connection to the natural or divine order to which he belongs. He foresaw that the majority would have no taste for portraying great human beings doing great deeds. One among many illuminating examples is his commentary on democratic art. Moreover, Tocqueville feared that the majority’s tastes and opinions would occupy every sphere of sentiment and thought. We see this happen almost daily: to stand against the majority is to ruin yourself. The majority’s moral power makes individuals internally ashamed to contradict it, which in effect silences them, and this silencing culminates in a cessation of thinking. It breaks citizens’ will to resist, to question its authority, and to think for themselves. That is, the majority reaches into citizens’ minds and hearts. But the new breed of democratic despotism “does not proceed in this way it leaves the body and goes straight for the soul.” Most alarming to him was the power of the majority, which he thought would distort every sphere of human life.ĭespots of the past tyrannized through blood and iron. In a strange sense, Tocqueville would think that North Korea is egalitarian.ĭespite his hopes for America, Tocqueville thought grave obstacles would diminish our freedom-though he didn’t think them insurmountable. In fact, much of the world did go in the direction of democratic despotism-wherein the great mass of citizens is indeed equal, save for a ruling elite, which governs them. And an example of this was needed, since equality can go along with freedom, but it can even more easily go along with despotism.

He therefore hoped America would serve as an example to the world-a successful combination of equality and liberty. In fact, he conjectured that America and Russia would each “hold the destinies of half the world in its hands one day.” He also predicted Russian despotism, thinking that Russia was not yet morally exhausted like Europe and would bring about a new, massive tyranny. As such, he foresaw that Europe would never be restored to its former greatness-though he hoped it could serve as the cultural repository of the West. Tocqueville correctly thought the then-developing America was the way of the future. The purpose of this trip was to study our country’s political institution and the habits of mind of its citizens. Tocqueville’s deservedly famous book, “Democracy in America,” was the product of his nine-month excursion throughout Jacksonian America. How odd, then, that someone born 210 years ago today could understand us with more clarity and depth than we understand ourselves.īack in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville accurately foresaw both much of what ails us and our remarkable uniqueness and strengths. We often boast about having attained some unimaginable redefinition of ourselves and our nation.

Tyranny of the majority