On majority rule and mediocrity More than just imploding any traces of old-world aristocracy, ordinary Americans also refused to defer to those possessing, as Tocqueville put it, superior talent and intelligence. These natural elites could not enjoy much share in political power as a result. Ordinary Americans enjoyed too much power, claimed too great a voice in the public sphere, to defer to intellectual superiors. This culture promoted a relatively pronounced equality, Tocqueville argued, but the same mores and opinions that ensured such equality also promoted, as he put it, mediocrity. Those who possessed true virtue and talent would be left with limited choices.[3] Tocqueville said that those with the most education and intelligence would either join limited intellectual circles to explore the weighty and complex problems facing society which have today become the academic or contemplative realms or use their superior talents to take advantage of Americas growing obsession with money-making and amass vast fortunes in the private sector. Tocqueville wrote that he did not know of any country where there was less independence of mind, and true freedom of discussion, than in America.[3] He blamed the omnipotence of majority rule as a chief factor in stifling thinking: The majority has enclosed thought within a formidable fence. A writer is free inside that area, but woe to the man who goes beyond it, not that he stands in fear of an inquisition, but he must face all kinds of unpleasantness in every day persecution. A career in politics is closed to him for he has offended the only power that holds the keys.[3] Tocqueville, in contrast to previous political thinkers, argued that a serious problem in political life was not that people were too strong, but that people were too weak and felt powerless; the danger is that people felt swept up in something that they could not control, according to Kaplans interpretation of Tocqueville.[3]
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 00:33:34 +0000
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