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While I'm sure I can look that up on wikipedia and get some idea as to what that article is, can you give some examples as to why? The economist article did a

by redcap 17y ago

While I'm sure I can look that up on wikipedia and get some idea as to what that article is, can you give some examples as to why? The economist article did a good job of showing that an open and tolerant America is good at getting people to come to the US and eventually blend in. It was also very relevant to the America of today, and suggested that despite some of the bad sides of America that are often amplified in the foreign press, because people have to work they're more likely to blend in. From what I read on wikipedia the 170 text does a very good job of explaining the nature of democracy in the US, and makes a number of predictions that pan out regarding party politics, but in your view is it still relevant for the America of the 21st century? I guess the angle I'm tacking from is the cultural aspects of integration versus what imo appears to be a treatise just about democracy (albeit what appears to be a classic).

astine 17y ago
From what I read on wikipedia the 170 text does a very good job of explaining the nature of democracy in the US, and makes a number of predictions that pan out regarding party politics, but in your view is it still relevant for the America of the 21st century? It is. DiA provides a very good picture on the character of the early American republic. It's very interesting to see how that character has progressed to the present day.
jacobolus 17y ago
It’s several hundred pages and packed with insight – my copy probably has five or ten thousand words of my marginal notes in it – so it’s a bit hard to summarize in this little box. Basically, it describes how the American society and political system arose, and how they function. It analyses all of these seeming contradictions between freedom and dogmatic moralizing, etc. I think it’s probably the best book I’ve read about how popular government operates, and how it differs from exclusive elite government. Also, many of the differences Tocqueville finds between European and American society are still relevant today. If you want to know how the conditions described in this Economist article arose, and how these various features interact – what the “character” of (even contemporary) America is – in a deep way, I can’t think of a better book.

by redcap 17y ago

astine 17y ago

From what I read on wikipedia the 170 text does a very good job of explaining the nature of democracy in the US, and makes a number of predictions that pan out regarding party politics, but in your view is it still relevant for the America of the 21st century? It is. DiA provides a very good picture on the character of the early American republic. It's very interesting to see how that character has progressed to the present day.

jacobolus 17y ago

It’s several hundred pages and packed with insight – my copy probably has five or ten thousand words of my marginal notes in it – so it’s a bit hard to summarize in this little box. Basically, it describes how the American society and political system arose, and how they function. It analyses all of these seeming contradictions between freedom and dogmatic moralizing, etc. I think it’s probably the best book I’ve read about how popular government operates, and how it differs from exclusive elite government. Also, many of the differences Tocqueville finds between European and American society are still relevant today. If you want to know how the conditions described in this Economist article arose, and how these various features interact – what the “character” of (even contemporary) America is – in a deep way, I can’t think of a better book.