Democracy in America:
Analysis Of Government Actions In ecent Times

Tocqueville visited the United States back in 1800s and it was then that he wrote his masterpiece, Democracy in America. This book contains details of what the philosopher witnessed during this trip. His views and thoughts were then collected to form a theory of politics and art in connection with democracy and presented them in this book. Tocqueville thus is considered one of the most important authors to have written anything on the democratic system of the United States in philosophical terms. His book is similar to ancient philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle in nature and style even though the actually contents differ. Not only did Tocqueville talk about democratic form of government in our country, he also presented his views on how democracy affects the art and literature. It is in these passages that we get to hear something truly…...

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References

Susan M. Akram, The Aftermath of September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America, Arab Studies Quarterly. Publication Year: 2002. Page Number: 61+.

Joyce Howard Price. Newspaper Title: Poll Shows Public Wants Saddam Targeted; Government Opinion Split, The Washington Times. October 26, 2001. 6.

John Gray. Happy to Be Handcuffed by the State: Liberals Refuse to Accept That the Greatest Threat to Freedom Comes Not from an Over-Mighty Government but One That Is Too Weak to Guarantee Its Citizens' Safety. New Statesman. Volume: 131. Issue: 4601. August 19, 2002. 20+.

Seymour Drescher, Dilemmas of Democracy: Tocqueville and Modernization. University of Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh. 1968.

America's constitution allowed for freedom of religion, which made religion centrally important in the lives of Americans in a way that it was often not given the state-enforced place of religion in Europe. Religions were diverse and thus a divisive force between citizens. American's 'dream of home ownership' and America's status as 'the most religious nation on earth,' underlines the importance of property and home ownership and the vital, personal importance of religion -- from Protestant evangelicalism to the self-help movement in the nation that still exists today. Capitalist land ownership, choice and independence, freedom from government-imposed rules were values celebrated in America even in Tocqueville's era.
The importance of a rule of law in a society without tradition makes lawyers especially powerful, observed Tocqueville. It is hard not to think of modern 'lawyer jokes,' when Tocqueville notes: "The French lawyer is simply a man extensively acquainted with the statutes…...

Instead, our morals and civilization simply mask the truth, that the true nature of the world is darkness, and evil. Conrad wrote the Heart of Darkness when Europeans were engrossed with Imperialism.
Interestingly, the character of Kurtz goes mad when his light goes out. The light is symbolic of the civilized side of human nature in society. In contrast, the dark represents the savage or uncivilized side of our society and individual natures. In the dark, Kurtz begins to question the value of European society, and civilization. This is a direct challenge to the principles of the Enlightenment.

Conrad states, "The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness..." This describes the savage and uncivilized nature of the Congo that Marlow and Kurtz are attempting to escape. Interestingly, Kurtz is broken by staring into the "heart of the darkness," symbolizing mans' true evil nature. In contrast, staring into the…...

Although De Tocqueville incorrectly stereotypes Americans as being inordinately serious in Book 3, Chapter 15, he pinpoints the essence of the typical American: "Americans, who almost always preserve a staid demeanor and a frigid air, nevertheless frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond the bounds of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion and sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities." De Tocqueville calls this "ignorance which originates in extreme publicity," and notes that in despotic states, the public is told how to act; they therefore act according to strict social norms of behavior. In the United States, however, people are "often obliged to do things which they have imperfectly learned, to say things which they imperfectly understand," (Book 3, Chapter 15). The segment on the Tonight Show called "Jaywalking" illustrates De Tocqueville's point exactly.
De Tocqueville's analysis of gender roles and relations in the United States has…...

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Works Cited

Democracy in America." Wikipedia. 7 July 2005. Retrieved online 22 July 2005 at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America 

De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. Hypertext version retrieved online 22 July 2005 at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/toc_indx.html

However, in the pursuit of freedom and liberty through democratic government, the citizens of the state should not pursue an unattainable type of social equality. The United States, according to DeTocqueville, stresses equality. This stress on equality distinguishes America from the democracies that existed before it. Absolute equality is impossible to achieve and cannot be legislated. Rather than overly emphasize the majority rule as is commonly done in American democracy, citizens should value all opinions and allow for freedom of expression.
American democracy also differs from other democracies in that American culture fosters individuality in a way that was never practiced in the past. Part of the essence of the American culture is self-determination, the sense of entitlement that many Americans continue to exhibit. This sense of entitlement gave rise to the notion of "manifest destiny." DeTocqueville also shows how materialism in American society distinguishes its democracy from those before…...

America was a wonderful experiment in freedom and democracy which had never before been attempted by any nation. Nations either tried to give power to the people in order to prevent monarchies from rising to despotic power, or they allowed monarchs, despots and other sole figure heads to rise to power. In the case of allowing the people to rule, Europe and European's had learned many times that unbridled power in the hands of the people was no more just than the rule of despots. obs could become just as dictatorial as individual monarchs who sat upon golden thrones. Until America came into existence, nations could only expect to exist for a short time before political turmoil would create change of government, and the nation would start over again.
So as America grew from a fledgling nation to a powerful and economically stable country, those who had watched democracy struggle around…...

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Mill, John Stuart. Dissertations and Discussions. New York: classic Books. 2000.

Madison, James. Federalist paper #10. 1775

De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America, essays on freedom. 1835. Accessed 21 May 2004. Website:  http://www.tocqueville.org

Democracy in the United States [...] what type of democracy is the U.S. What are the most democratic and least democratic features of American national government? Do you believe that the U.S. presently embodies the core values of a democracy or do you believe that the U.S. has yet to attain the essence of democratic ideals? Democracy is one of the most sought after forms of government, and some form of democracy reaches far back into history, as far back as early Greece. American democracy is a model for the world.
First, to discuss democracy it is better to define democracy. "Democracy" comes from the Greek work "demos" which means "the common people," and "kratia" which means, "power" (O'Neil 149). Thus, democracy means the power actually lives in the people. However, this is too simply a definition of the word. Author O'Neil maintains the word means "political power exercised either…...

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References

Mueller, Dennis C. Constitutional Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

O'Neil, Patrick. Essentials of Comparative Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004.

Putnam, Robert D. "Democracy in America at the End of the Twentieth Century." Participation and Democracy, East and West: Comparisons and Interpretations. Eds. Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Marilyn Rueschemeyer, and Bjorn Wittrock. Armonk, NY M.E. Sharpe, 1998. 233-259.

America- Democracy or Plutocracy?
The United States of America is often hailed as the first and greatest modern democracy in the world. Most Americans believe that the United States is the example the rest of the world should emulate, and that it offers its citizens the power to make decisions through its free and fair elections. Yet at the same time, others say that the United States of America has ceased to be a democracy and instead become a plutocracy. A plutocracy is a state that is ruled by the wealthiest people, rather than by free and fair elections in which all citizens have an equal voice. Recent political developments have caused fear from those who believe the United States is moving toward plutocracy, but at the same time, other equally important developments have shown that it remains, at least for the time being, a democracy.

Although the United States has a…...

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Works Cited

"The Court's Blow to Democracy." Editorial. The New York Times. January 21, 2010. Web. April 26, 2011.

"Health Care Reform." The New York Times. . March 4, 2011. Web. April 27, 2011.

Rolnik, Guy. "Warren Buffet: The U.S. is moving toward plutocracy." TheMarker.com. March 4, 2011. Web. April 27, 2011.

Tremblay, Rodrigue. "The United States of Corporate America: From Democracy to Plutocracy." Global Research Canada. January 22, 2010. Web. April 26, 2011.

Democracy and Clientelism:
Political clientelism is basically considered as the distribution of discriminatory benefits to people or groups in exchange for political support. Clientelism is a form of personal exchange that is always characterized by uneven balance of power between those involved and a sense of compulsion. Throughout history, this term has continued to create confusion and controversy due to the broad and varied range of political exchanges that it contains. Since it's a way with which the uneven and hierarchical exchanges of a feudal society are described, clientelism is also a means of describing the relationships between patrons and clients. The theory of democracy explains that voters have the right of making their choices freely, particularly during political elections. This concept has created new platforms for representation and political accountability as well as the benefits for sustaining and cultivating clientelistic bonds (Szwarcberg, 2009). In places with weak democracies, clients use…...

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Bibliography:

De Sousa Luis. "Clientelism and the Quality(ies) of Democracy Public and Policy Aspects."

Central European University, 2008.   (accessed April 12, 2011).http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00004462/01/discwp-2008-02.pdf 

Gallego, Jorge Andres & Raciborski, Rafal. "Clientelism, Income Inequality, and Social

Preferences: and Evolutionary Approach to Poverty Traps." Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2008.   (accessed April 12, 2011).http://www.javeriana.edu.co/fcea/area_economia/inv/documents/clientelismIncomeInequalityandSocialPreferences_000.pdf 

America, without doubt the most powerful nation on earth and the sole super-power of the 21st century evokes vastly conflicting feelings in people around the world, depending on their individual paradigm: the lens through which they look at the world. While to most people, America is a symbol of prosperity, freedom and equal opportunity it also is a source of equally negative feelings for others who resent its prosperity, and its economic, cultural and military power. This Jekyll & Hyde image of the country in the world, though surprising to many Americans, is not difficult to understand if one examines the issue in its historical, political, and cultural perspective. In this essay we will discuss what America looks like to an outsider, and what it means to people from different countries of the world as a state, as a people, and as a geographic region. Into what larger ideas and…...

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Bibliography

Fowlie, Wallace. "Voltaire." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta, 2002

Johnson, Paul E. And Nancy Woloch. "United States (History). Article in Encyclopedia Encarta, 2002.

Nash, Gary B. "United States (Overview). Article in Encyclopedia Encarta, 2002.

Klepp, Susan E. "United States (People)." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta, 2002.

Democracy in U.S. And Scotland
Democracy in the United States

Different countries with widely disparate forms of government all lay claim to being a democracy. Many European parliamentary-style governments, for example, call themselves democracies. In contrast, more centralized, presidential governments claim to be democracies as well.

hat these forms of government have in common, however, are key basic ideals. Democracy is a form of government that is based on aggregative concepts of a "common good." This concept has its roots in philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau's "social contract theory," which states that a general will of the people gives rise to an unstated social contract. In a democratic form of government, decisions are made based on a "rationally identified common good" (Shapiro 2003: 3).

The United States has three main structures of government. The judiciary is tasked with interpreting and upholding the country's laws. The legislature, composed of the Lower House and the Senate, write…...

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Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan. 2000. The Unfinished Nation. New York: McGraw-Hill Company.

Kagan, Robert. 2003. Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order. New York: Knopf

Lace, William. 2001. Scotland. San Diego: Lucent Books.

Public Information Service. 2003. Factsheet on the Scottish Parliament. available at  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk

Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry
At some point, all of us must have asked ourselves: Does poetry still have a place in the contemporary democratic society? Other questions arise from here of course: Does poetry play different roles in the different democracies? What is the difference between the role poetry plays in the American society and the role it plays in the European one? And from here on it may start the debate.

In the book, Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry, by Robert Pinsky, we may find some answers to these questions.

Robert Pinsky starts in the first chapter "Culture" considering the "voice of poetry"..."within the culture of American democracy." He remarks that the human society fears the most often since its early ages from the important things: the uniformisation, by globalization, centralization, loss of diversity and the possibility of disappearing from the collective memory. An American poet says…...

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Bibliography

1. Pinsky, Robert, Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry, Princeton University Press; (September 3, 2002)

Pinsky, Robert, Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry, Princeton University Press; (September 3, 2002), pg.2 ibid, pg. 6 ibid, pg. 13

America at War 1865-Present
A Survey of America at War from 1865 to Present

Since the Civil War, America has seldom seen a generation of peace. In fact, a nonstop succession of wars has kept what Eisenhower termed "the military industrial complex" in lucrative business. From the Indian Wars to the World Wars to the Cold War to the war on Terror, Americana has expanded its foothold as an imperial power every step of the way -- even when isolationism appeared to be momentarily in vogue following World War I. This paper will look at the history of the progression of war in America from 1865 to present, showing how that history -- through social, economic, literary, political, and religious changes -- has both shaped and been shaped by American foreign and domestic policy.

Unit Once: 1865-1876

The Civil War had just ended on the home front, but that did not mean that America…...

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Reference List

Boyd, J.P. (2000). Indian Wars. Scituate, MA: Digital Scanning, Inc.

Jarecki, E. (2008). The American Way of War. NY: Free Press.

Jones, E.M. (2000). Libido Dominandi. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.

Morehouse, M. (2007). Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Men and Women

In this way there would be more teachers paying greater attention to students who would learn not more, but perhaps better. The level of education is one of the most important concepts in this discussion and it is directly connected to the required standards. If these are lowered then everyone will "pass," but this success is ephemeral and is not translated into capacities or resources which could be afterward used outside school in the real life. Excellence in education is a must for a strong democracy while at the same time, one of the most important challenges that democracy faces is that of finding a way to provide all the citizens with the opportunity to an education of excellent level.
Last but not least a measure which could help improve the present situation of the educational system is reducing the bureaucracy. The work of teachers and professors ought to be…...

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Bibliography:

Barber, B.R. "America skips school: why we talk so much about education and do so little." Harper's Magazine, nov.1993, v287, n1722, p.39

"Where does the money go? How the average U.S. consumer spends their paycheck" in visualeconomics.com, Retrieved September 30, 2010 from  http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

America has never been a nation to create solutions to problems that have yet to occur. The prevailing wisdom was that terrorism and the need for a unified intelligence gathering community geared specifically to detect and protect against terrorism was uneccessary because terrorism simply wasn't an American problem. This reasoning however has been proven to have been extremely naive. In the wake of 9/11, our nation has come to the very real understanding that bureaucratic infighting, territorial law and intelligence agencies, and a total complacence on the part of the U.S. citizenry left us wide open for attacks. All of the security measures now in place or being considered (all of which in some part are in place in virtually every other western nation) could have been in place long ago and could have prevented 9/11. But, as our government does not spend money on possibilities but rather in responses,…...

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Referenced

"Age of Anxiety." The Nation. Dec 9, 2002. v275. i20. p3. Online Database: Infotrac. Info Acc, 5 Dec,2002.

"Homeland Insecurity." U.S. News & World Report. Dec 2, 2002. p64. Online Database: Infotrac. Info Acc, 5 Dec,2002.

Lefebure, Leo. "Muslim-Christian Dialogue" The Christian Century. 11 Sep, 2002. v119. i19. p8. Online Database: Infotrac. Info Acc, 5 Dec,2002.

"Report: Anti-Terror Powers Curtail Rights." United Press International. Nov 23, 2002. p1008327w4275. Online Database: Infotrac. Info Acc, 5 Dec,2002.

Research-Based Essay Books

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
"In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick
"Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America" by Beth Macy

These books provide in-depth, well-researched accounts of historical events, scientific discoveries, and societal issues. They rely on extensive interviews, archival research, and scientific data to support their arguments and conclusions.

Persuasive Essay Books

"How to Win Friends & Influence People" by Dale Carnegie
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

These books aim to persuade readers....