Studies have shown that civil rights complaints against poli…
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Studies hаve shоwn thаt civil rights cоmplаints against pоlice are _________.
This is а medicаl imаge оf the knee. What medical imaging technique was used tо take this image?
Tоcqueville, Demоcrаcy in Americа (1835), Excerpts оn Civic Virtue *As аlways, heavily edited for clarity and content. Civic Republican Basics Note: you see here in these passages many of the general tendencies of civic republicanism. One of the most important changes that Tocqueville makes, however, is changing Aristotle’s system of divided sovereignty (the mixed constitution) to divided government. Thus, Tocqueville unequivocally embraces the “sovereignty of the people” but also seeks to restrain the unlimited power of the majority as well. Sovereignty means the right to rule. Text follows: Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be discussed, it is with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people that we must begin… In America the principle of the sovereignty of the people is not either barren or concealed, as it is with some other nations; it is recognized by the customs and proclaimed by the laws; it spreads freely, and arrives without impediment at its most remote consequences. If there be a country in the world where the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people can be fairly appreciated, where it can be studied in its application to the affairs of society, and where its dangers and its advantages may be foreseen, that country is assuredly America. Question: from a civic republican perspective, why would Tocqueville want to talk about both the “dangers” and “advantages” of the sovereignty of the people? Please refer to Conformity and Social Qualities notes from Week 3 to think about the potential dangers of the sovereignty of the people. … In short, there are twenty-four small sovereign nations, whose agglomeration constitutes the body of the Union… The form of the Federal Government of the United States was the last which was adopted; and it is in fact nothing more than a modification or a summary of those republican principles which were current in the whole community before it existed, and independently of its existence. No political form has hitherto been discovered which is equally favorable to the prosperity and the development of all the classes into which society is divided. These classes continue to form, as it were, a certain number of distinct nations in the same nation; and experience has shown that it is no less dangerous to place the fate of these classes exclusively in the hands of any one of them than it is to make one people the arbiter of the destiny of another. When the rich alone govern, the interest of the poor is always endangered; and when the poor make the laws, that of the rich are constantly threatened. The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal which ever existed, and no body of men has ever, uninterruptedly, furnished so many honorable and enlightened individuals to the government of a country. It cannot, however, escape observation that in the legislation of England the good of the poor has been sacrificed to the advantage of the rich, and the rights of the majority to the privileges of the few. The consequence is, that England, at the present day, combines the extremes of fortune in the bosom of her society, and her perils and calamities are almost equal to her power and her renown. Question: connect Tocqueville’s comments on the English aristocracy to the specific aristocratic virtues and vices. … It cannot be repeated too often that nothing is more fertile in prodigies than the art of being free; but there is nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty. Such is not the case with despotic institutions: despotism often promises to make amends for a thousand previous ills; it supports the right, it protects the oppressed, and it maintains public order. The nation is lulled by the temporary prosperity which accrues to it, until it is roused to a sense of its own misery. Liberty, on the contrary, is generally established in the midst of agitation, it is perfected by civil discord, and its benefits cannot be appreciated until it is already old. Question: connect these passages to the conflict between social classes that Machiavelli discussed. … Local Liberties and the Township Note: these passages show the importance of participatory politics in the creation of civic virtue, and local liberties are the places that Tocqueville thinks regular citizens can go to ‘learn how politics works’. Pay attention to how Tocqueville is modifying Aristotle here as well: whereas the township is still ‘natural’, monarchies and republics are man-made. It is not without design that I begin this subject with the Township. The village or township is the only association which is so perfectly natural that wherever a number of men are collected it seems to constitute itself. The town, or tithing, as the smallest division of a community, must necessarily exist in all nations, whatever their laws and customs may be: if man makes monarchies and establishes republics, the first association of mankind seems constituted by the hand of God…Municipal freedom is not the fruit of human art; it is rarely created; rather it is secretly and spontaneously engendered in the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society, in all countries and in all climates. Question: think hard about this passage! While Tocqueville is agreeing with Aristotle about the ‘naturalness’ of the township, he’s also disagreeing that this automatically creates a republic. What do you think about this? How might that challenge some of Aristotle’s claims? Nevertheless, local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty…. In the township the people is the only source of power; but in no stage of government does the body of citizens exercise a more immediate influence. In America the people is a master whose exigencies demand obedience to the utmost limits of possibility. … I have already observed that the principle of the sovereignty of the people governs the whole political system of the Anglo-Americans. Every page of this book will afford new instances of the same doctrine. In the nations by which the sovereignty of the people is recognized every individual possesses an equal share of power, and participates alike in the government of the State. Every individual is, therefore, supposed to be as well informed, as virtuous, and as strong as any of his fellow-citizens. He obeys the government, not because he is inferior to the authorities which conduct it, or that he is less capable than his neighbor of governing himself, but because he acknowledges the utility of an association with his fellowmen, and because he knows that no such association can exist without a regulating force. If he be a subject in all that concerns the mutual relations of citizens, he is free and responsible to God alone for all that concerns himself. Hence arises the maxim that every one is the best and the sole judge of his own private interest, and that society has no right to control a man’s actions, unless they are prejudicial to the common weal, or unless the common weal demands his cooperation. This doctrine is universally admitted in the United States. Question: How is individual liberty in Tocqueville’s mind connected to participation in government? How does this vision differ from Locke’s notion of natural rights? The townships are only subordinate to the State in those interests which apply to the larger community, as they are common to all the citizens. They are independent in all that concerns themselves… In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are kept alive and supported by public spirit. The township of New England possesses two advantages which infallibly secure the attentive interest of mankind, namely, independence and authority. Its sphere is indeed small and limited, but within that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its independence gives to it a real importance which its extent and population may not always ensure. It is to be remembered that the affections of men generally lie on the side of authority. Patriotism is not durable in a conquered nation. The New Englander is attached to his township, not only because he was born in it, but because it constitutes a social body of which he is a member, and whose government claims and deserves the exercise of his sagacity. But the township serves as a center for the desire of public esteem, the want of exciting interests, and the taste for authority and popularity…In the American States power has been disseminated with admirable skill for the purpose of interesting the greatest possible number of persons in the common weal. Independently of the electors who are from time to time called into action, the body politic is divided into innumerable functionaries and officers, who all, in their several spheres, represent the same powerful whole in whose name they act. Question: what is the role of power being dispersed widely in the creation of public spirit (part of Tocqueville’s notion of civic virtue)? The American system, which divides the local authority among so many citizens, does not scruple to multiply the functions of the town officers. For in the United States it is believed, and with truth, that patriotism is a kind of devotion which is strengthened by ritual observance. The native of New England is attached to his township because it is independent and has real authority in decision-making: his co-operation in its affairs ensures his attachment to its interest; the well-being it affords him secures his affection; and its welfare is the aim of his ambition and of his future exertions: he takes a part in every occurrence in the place; he practices the art of government in the small sphere within his reach; he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone ensure the steady progress of liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a taste for order, comprehends the union or the balance of powers, and collects clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of his rights. Question: what are the two characteristics of the township that are essential to attaching citizens to their government? What exactly do they learn there? …