Outside Reading-Alexid De Tocqueville's Democracy in America- Ryan Webb

In the Ethics of Elfland, Chesterton says, "this is the first principle of Democracy: that the essential things in men are the things they hold in common, not the things they hold separately. And the second principle is merely this: that the political instinct or desire is one of these things which they hold in common." Later he concludes by saying, "in short, the democratic faith is this: that the most terribly important things must be left to ordinary men themselves-- the mating of the sexes, the rearing of the young, the laws of the state. This is democracy, and in this I have always believed."
Alexis De Tocqueville, an 19th century French Historian who wrote Democracy in America includes within his work many observations of American democracy. He obsessively critiques and explains the positives and negatives intrinsically involved within democracy in America. He asserts that the very strengths of the democracy give way to a new despotism never before seen in the world, he calls this the tyranny of the majority. He would agree with Chesterton's first principle of Democracy and insist that it is this very principle that leads to such a terrible tyranny. He explains that through great sensations involved with freedom and equality, perhaps the two most valued democratic ideals, the majority rules with such a great force that they can become unstoppable. Indeed the worst aspect of this tyranny is deterioration of the very ideal which created them, freedom and equality. If it is this principle that makes democracy so valued, how do we protect against the rule of the majority?