Citizenship Responsibilities
French Philosopher, Alexis De Tocqueville, was impressed with the United States’ democratic order. He felt that it was different from what he had observed in France. He published a book titled Democracy in America where he described five values that contributed to the constitutional victory of the United States. They are liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire. Of all of them, egalitarianism stands out because equality was not recognized in Europe at that time, which is paradoxical. Slavery was at its peak in the 1800s and the wealthy class of people was minute. Egalitarianism, as a political philosophy, highlights equality and liberty of all classes of people, and it can be restored in the United States.
Equality is a fundamental principle of egalitarianism, in terms of equal rights and treatment. De Tocqueville stated that in the United States, people got the same opportunities, regardless of their background, race, or social status, and they were regarded as equals. Equality was divided into social and political equality. Social equality translated to equal distribution of wealth and opportunities; it also sought ways to lessen the concentration of wealth in one group of people. Political equality pertained to equal chances to vote, public opinion, and sovereignty of the people. All these rights require checks and balances to be considered successful.
Social equality has been an exercise in futility in the United States. De Tocqueville was thrilled with the equal distribution of wealth in the United States, as opposed to Western Europe. He made his comparisons with the situation in France, where aristocrats had taken over. Egalitarianism believes that everyone deserves to get a portion of wealth. There are different available avenues for creation of wealth in the United States. De Tocqueville was impressed by the fact that people have been accorded the ability of starting and operating businesses, with the intention of making money. The main problem with this type of egalitarianism is that it is based on individualism. People are wired to desire what other people have- the possibility of individuals working on their own to create wealth like other people is high. Individualism, which is one of the values that the philosopher came up with, may have negative effects on democracy. However, by distributing opportunities and wealth as opposed to holding it in a particular group of people will restore the egalitarianism value in the United States.
De Tocqueville was passionate about freedom in the United States. According to him, liberty was linked to the political equality in that part of Europe. Political equality has several elements, one of them being freedom to exercise voting rights, irrespective of race and the amount of wealth amassed by an individual. People who wished to partake political positions were chosen by their calibre and educational background. Democracy, specifically political equality, was promoted by the people in different aspects: an independent judiciary, freedom of the press, and religion. If all these parties work together, political equality will be restored in the United States. The current scenario is that political roots are maintained in one family and other members of the public do not have the chance to exercise their political rights. The judiciary can help by creating laws that make it easy for individuals to pick political positions and participate in elections through voting. Political equality can be protected and restored if democracy is exercised in all the mentioned departments.
Alexis De Tocqueville’s thoughts on democracy were correct. The only way to achieve egalitarianism is to ensure that wealth is distributed equally amongst every social class in the United States, and exercise of political rights via democracy as opposed to tyranny. The United States that the philosopher analyzed was far from equal. Slavery was allowed and oppression of people in all aspects was entertained. He compared the United States to the aristocracy he faced in France; hence he thought the US was better than other parts of Europe.