Political Spectrum

Alexis de Tocqueville, as we have noted, appears to have had some appeal to both ends of the political spectrum - left and right or rather, both have found him to be useful for their purposes in certain circumstances. His rational acceptance of the new forces of democracy brought about by the American and French revolutions made him an icon of left-wing liberals. However, during the Cold War - that is, from the end of World War II until the collapse of communism he was adopted by some leading thinkers on the right. So, there are two sides to his political philosophy, and the man himself. that we need to look at. Now, I would suggest that de Tocqueville's biography is important here. You must always bear in mind when reading him that he was an aristocrat and one whose family had suffered in the French Revolution. He wasn't your typical aristocrat because his politics differed from others of his family and social rank. He abandoned the Catholic church and married beneath his class. Yet he never quite threw off the prejudices of that class. However, and what is important, he did recognize and believe that the tendency of history, which in those days could be traced back to the Middle Ages, was towards the leveling of social ranks, and more equal and democratic conditions. The French Revolution had in the end brought Napoleon, whom he hated, but democracy would inevitably come to France. His trip to America was to see democracy in practice. make note of its shortcomings and errors, and then find safeguards against them.