Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

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DEMOCRACY TODAY
There are nations of Europe where an inhabitant considers himself a kind
of colonist, indifferent to the destiny of the place that he inhabits. The greatest
changes come about in his country without his concurrence; he does
not even know precisely what has taken place; he suspects; he has heard
the event recounted by chance. Even more, the fortune of his village, the
policing of his street, the fate of his church and of his presbytery do not
touch him; he thinks that all these things do not concern him in any fashion
and that they belong to a powerful foreigner called the government. For
himself, he enjoys these goods as a tenant, without a spirit of ownership
and without ideas of any improvement whatsoever. This disinterest in
himself goes so far that if his own security or that of his children is finally
compromised, instead of occupying himself with removing the danger, he
crosses his arms to wait for the nation as a whole to come to his aid. Yet this
man, although he has made such a complete sacrifice of his free will, likes
obedience no more than any other. He submits, it is true, at the pleasure
of a clerk; but it pleases him to defy the law like a defeated enemy, as soon
as force is withdrawn. Thus one sees him swinging constantly between
servitude and license. (2000, 88-89)
The major point here, it should be clear, is that the lack of political
engagement – instead of personal safety – symbolizes the state of
slavery. It is the passivity of individuals in the face of their common
affairs and the monopoly of political decision in the hand of administrative
bureaus that render the political situation degraded and unstable.
Tocqueville explicitly points out that this is a state of “servitude,” a
term carrying special meanings with regard to its opposite – the state
of freedom. For Tocqueville, indeed, freedom for modern Democratic
society is first and foremost political freedom, the freedom to engage in
politics actively. Besides, as Tocqueville points out, personal safety and
affluence would not last long in a society in which everyone anticipates
the state to take care of their own affairs. “Despotism all alone by itself
can maintain nothing lasting.” (Tocqueville 2000, 89)
While Tocqueville sees the dangerous tendencies of Democracy,
there are certainly ways to bypass them. One ought to “instruct
Democracy,” Tocqueville claims. And what he sees in America gives
hope for the prospect of Democratic society. There, Tocqueville comments,
an extreme “equality of conditions” is fairly combined with