The Three Threats to Tocquevillian Democracy

Almost two hundred years ago, in DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about the promise and peril of the democratic age.  By some accounts, the dystopian future he foresaw has come to pass; increasingly, American citizens are alone and look up to the powerful state to supply all of their needs. Since World War II, commentators on American democracy have echoed Tocqueville's warning.  There are, however, two additional perils to which we must now attend, namely identity politics and what might be called "Substitutism."  Each of these, in their own way, undermines the citizen competence that is necessary for republican government to work in the democratic age.  This lecture will survey Tocqueville's apprehensions about the future and address the additional temptations with which we are confronted today.