Democracy

Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835 & 1840 Executive Summary Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in the United States in 1831, nominally to study the American prison system. What he produced from nine months of observation was the most penetrating analysis of democratic society ever written — and he wrote it at thirty. Democracy in America is two volumes of concentrated attention: the first on the mechanics of American democracy, the second on its effects on the human soul. The thesis, stated across both: democracy is the political future of the modern world, and it carries within it the seeds of its own corruption — not through tyranny from above, but through conformity and comfortable dependency from below. ...

Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities Martha Nussbaum, 2010 Executive Summary Martha Nussbaum’s argument is urgent and unfashionable: the global trend toward profit-driven education — measuring success in economic output, ranking subjects by their market value — is quietly dismantling the capacities that self-governance requires. Critical thinking, historical consciousness, narrative imagination, the ability to see the world from another person’s position — these are not decorative skills. They are the cognitive infrastructure of democracy. The thesis: a nation of technically proficient workers who cannot think critically or empathize across difference is not equipped for self-rule. ...

Corruption at the highest levels of government is not merely a matter of bribery, scandal, or personal disgrace. It is a constitutional danger. When public office becomes a means of private enrichment, partisan revenge, selective enforcement, or protection for the powerful, the damage reaches far beyond the official who abuses power. It teaches citizens that law is negotiable, truth is ornamental, and public service is only another marketplace for influence. ...