DeTocquevilles Benefits of Democracy Compared With the...

DeTocqueville noticed three significant benefits of democracy while observing it first hand in America. Those benefits are public spirit, a notion of rights, and respect for the law. Keeping these results of democracy in mind, while reading Thoreau’s Walden a reader will wonder whether or not the author is comfortable with the notion of living in a democratic government. To answer this question, it is useful to assess DeTocqueville’s benefits of democracy and compare them with the principles found in Walden. Of the first benefit, public spirit, DeTocqueville describes two types of patriotism. The first is based on a pride of family and country and â€Å"a reverence for traditions of the past,† resulting in a strong felt personal†¦show more content†¦While Thoreau also has a strong sense of rights, he is a bit more like Rousseau in his thought, assuming that all are able to put aside their greed and their tendency to put their self interest above the self interest of others, basing much of his arguments on the presupposition that the nature of man is generally good. Operating under this assumption, Thoreau â€Å"never fastened [his] door night or day. His argument was that if all were to live as he did, without striving for anything in excess of necessity, then there would be no reason for protections against robberies. Following this logic, there would be no reason for any government of any type, save to defend against people who knew not the benefits of such living. So on the issue of rights, DeTocqueville and Thoreau arrive at a similar conclusion, that virtue and rights are necessary for any good society, they arrive there coming from very different starting points. The third benefit of democracy listed by DeTocqueville is respect of the law. In DeTocqueville’s ideal democracy every citizen would engage in the election of officials and the making of laws, all seeking to maintain the self interest of the individual. Thus, having written the law themselves, the people have a sense of ownership of the law and further desire to follow it. In Thoreau’s ideal society, many of the law written under