There are many predictions on how democracy will die…..back in the 50’s it was creeping communism that would bring the demise…..the problem was it was not creeping at all…..more recently the predictions have been that if it dies then this society will have killed it……

Let us step into the “way back machine” and visit the days of 1830-1831 when a Frenchman was touring the US and made some marvelous insights into America and its democracy…..

If there are two things that one is likely to hear from college faculty today, they are that 1. Students are too careerist, and 2. We need a more democratic society. They worry about the growing utilitarian cast of education in general, as well as the remnants of hierarchy, authority, paternalism, and inequality in today’s society.

What they generally don’t see is the deep underlying connection between these two phenomena. A familiarity with Tocqueville’s essential Democracy in America would prove enlightening.

Tocqueville expresses wonder and awe at the activity of the Americans that he encountered during his visit to the United States in 1830-31. In contrast to the relative complacency of people in their social roles in aristocratic Europe—where no amount of work, effort or activity could move one either from the ranks of the aristocrats to the commoners, or vice-versa—Americans live daily with the awareness that their station in life is one of variability, potential, and fragility. The result was a society that was, by appearances, industrious, but more deeply riven with anxiety. Thus, Tocqueville was moved to call this condition one of “restlessness,” or “inquietude,” the inability to be “quiet” or still or in a state of quiescence.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-democracy-dies/

It is a marvelous book with many insights that de Tocqueville witnessed that are as much today as it was in his day.  I recommend that all Americans read the set for there is much to be learned within its pages.