1826 Democracy in America Volume II, by Alexis de Tocqueville (read 14 Feb 1984) Well, I really had to struggle to read Volume II. It was published in 1840, five years after Volume I. It is filled with abstractions, unsupported by data. Much of what he says does not seem true, and I confess I just read to get through, and my attention often wandered. I am glad I am done with the work. ( )

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.

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.

“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 ( )

Sociologie chrétienne. ( )

What Tocqueville has to say about the American character is still mostly true, but his observations of our political institutions have been supplanted by the welfare state and our role in world empire. Our loss I think. He is almost silent on state institutions, but has some valid, if now sadly historical, observations on local government. ( )