Democracy in America in All Its Glory - Term Paper Example

Democratic institutions are more likely to protect individual freedoms.On the other hand, freedom is something an individual enjoys; it is the absence of oppression from both government and other agencies although it should be practiced that where there is freedom, there is responsibility.Northern democratic traditions emphasize three inalienable freedoms: rights to personal security, personal expression, and political participation. In this respect, the freedom of expression of the early Americans was limited.

Tocqueville stressed that "Sometimes analogous happens with nations. Peoples always bear some marks of their origin. Circumstances of birth and growth affect all the rest of their careers."Tocqueville said that America is the most democratic country in the world, and it is at the same time (according to reports worthy of belief) the country in which the Roman Catholic religion makes the most progress. At first sight, this is surprising.Two things must here be accurately distinguished: equality makes men want to form their own opinions; but, on the other hand, it imbues them with the taste and the idea of unity, simplicity, and impartiality in the power that governs society.

Men living in democratic times are therefore very prone to shake off all religious authority; but if they consent to subject themselves to any authority of this kind, they choose at least that it should be single and uniform. Religious powers not radiating from a common center are naturally repugnant to their minds, and they almost as readily conceive that there should be no religion as that there should be several.At the present time, more than in any preceding age, Roman Catholics are seen to lapse into infidelity, and Protestants to be converted to Roman Catholicism.

If you consider Catholicism within its own organization, it seems to be losing; if you consider it from outside, it seems to be gaining. Nor is this difficult to explain. The men of our days are naturally little disposed to believe; but as soon as they have any religion, they immediately find in themselves a latent instinct that urges them unconsciously towards Catholicism.