Democracy in America Today: Tocqueville, Congress, and Decentralized Power

Join host Johnny Burtka with Yuval Levin, Sarah Gustafson, Vincent Munoz, and Sohrab Ahmari for an in-depth conversation about Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and its relevance to contemporary American politics. This roundtable explores Congress and democratic governance, the administrative state, religion in democracy, and the formation of democratic citizens in our modern age.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Why Congress must predominate in a republic
7:22 - Andrew Jackson and the paradox of executive power
20:50 - Who was Alexis de Tocqueville?
27:18 - Tocqueville's reception in America through history
36:14 - The pathologies of democracy and soft despotism
51:37 - The bank war and Hamiltonian vs. Jacksonian visions
1:11:00 - The New Deal, progressivism, and centralized power
1:25:25 - Markets, government, and the problem of centralization
1:29:27 - The democratic soul and forming citizens
1:40:30 - Religion, morality, and American democracy today
1:50:25 - Reforming institutions and educating the next generation

Featured Topics: Tocqueville, Congress, separation of powers, Andrew Jackson, administrative state, progressive era, federalism, subsidiarity, religious liberty, democratic soul, education, virtue ethics, institutional reform, aristocracy vs. democracy

A production of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute | isi.org

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