Democracy In America Tocqueville Analysis

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It is a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America”. His point of view is very clear on the fact that once a person gives up their liberty for comfort and security to a government the whole thing needs to be revised. One shouldn’t trade anything to the government in exchange for anything. In this type of system , citizens “ leave their dependence for a moment to indicate their master, and then reenter it” meaning that it is a vicious circle, even though civilians think they are being given a choice, it doesn’t really turn out to be a choice in the end because compromises have to be made (Festenstein Kenny P 77). People who are very eager to trade off liberty for comforts, only as long as they can deliver it to their people in the end. For …show more content…

He then expresses his views on the fact that there are a lot of lands that are owned by the majority and thus these lands remain uncultivated even though there are many people (poor people) that could be cultivating them: this causes an inequality in property which then causes an inequality in society and therefore the advantage of the majority on the minority. The idea of the “tyranny of the majority “is very present in this passage as well. The question here also reside on the fact that these political figures and powerful families that own the majority of the property are not fulfilling their part of the bargain into providing for its people. Hence the example of the day laborer Jefferson referred to in his letter to Madison: She is a day laborer who is getting paid so little by her employer that she cannot sustain her family and provide for her children (the conditions of the laboring poor aren’t being discussed because they not fall in the priority for the majority because they only concern a minor part of the