American Traditional Politics Democracy in America by...

The backbone to the American way of life that numerous generations have come to grow and love is based upon the principle that no matter your stature, no matter your beliefs, no matter your positioning, everyone is equal and posses the same abilities and rights of that of their neighbor. No man is far superior to the next and each has the freedom to aspire to their own goals and their own plans. Many, like myself, believe and support that equality as well as liberty are vital features to a sustainable democracy. But how strong the two features are together is where the doubt lies. Alexis de Tocqueville was convinced that liberty and equality would always cause tension between the two never letting each reach its full abilities. This was†¦show more content†¦Given by the rights of the Constitution and its amendments, all men are equal under the law, which in return gives every citizen the freedoms they so please. Yet when we see traits like individualism, materialism and en vy arise it seems less probable that they can be sustained at peace with one another. From when Tocqueville first visited America in the 19th century, he fell infatuated with the idea of democracy and all it had to offer to its people. The colonial towns of New England possessed the ideals of a utopian society, a giant step ahead from the aristocracy that had just crumbled to pieces in his native French land. As his time grew in America and as he explored further and further into the vast new regime of democracy, he realized it wasn’t all it was praised to be. By the end of his book, Democracy in America, he stated that he was indeed weary of what democracy had to offer and that it was not the solution he was in search for to bring back to France. Even though, he persistently claims that equality is not the sole reason for which he fears a democratic society, his work supports that equality is at the source of all incidents in which democracy can go wrong. Now even with the tension and the socialist appearance equality gives to liberties, Tocqueville and many o thers still like the ideas of equality and what it has to offer. Giving each member of society equal chancesShow MoreRelatedThe Challenge For Property Qualifications For Voting907 Words   |  4 PagesOne basis of political democracy in this period was the challenge to property qualifications for voting. It began in the American Revolution but culminated in the early nineteenth century. After the Revolution, no new state required property ownership to vote, and in older states, constitutional conventions in the 1820s and 1830s abolished property qualifications, partly because the growing number of wage earners who did not own much property demanded the vote. In the South, however, where largeRead MoreThe Tension Between Liberty And Equality2115 Words   |  9 Pages In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville’s memorable claim that there is an incredible tension between liberty and equality in America is certainly true. His secondary argument is equally justifiableâ€⠀that Democratic nations, especially American, will grow to love equality more â€Å"ardently and enduringly† than liberty (Tocqueville, 202), and can be proved by observing current American political patterns and events. Tocqueville’s argument that there is an unreconciled tension between libertyRead MoreOn Different Values of Individualism in Chinese and American Cultures3861 Words   |  16 PagesIndividualism in Chinese and American Cultures 1. Introduction Everyone, every social class and every country have their own unique values. It is the fact that value is the core of cross-culture communication and the differences of culture among countries depend on different values. 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