Returning to Democratic Vistas

Like Wendy read in class, the Whitman passage from Democratic Vistas that sang to me was "We have frequently printed the word Democracy.  Yet I cannot too often repeat that it is a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawaken'd, notwithstanding the resonance and the many angry tempests out of which its syllables have come, from pen or tongue.  It is a great word, whose history, I suppose, remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted."  I love this passage because it embodies not only Whitman's great optimism, but the optimism that really defines America.  I like how he portrays democracy as a process, not a static state.  He embraces the agency we have here to change democracy's meaning and continually work on creating a better country.

Also-I went bowling over the weekend, and we had to wait until after 8:30 to go because of league bowling.  I instantly thought of AmCon and now have a good feeling that league bowling is still going strong in suburbs of Minneapolis. :)

awesome velcro bowling shoes

Blessed are the Organized

"Caring involves taking an active interest in something, in contrast with being apathetic about it or unconcerned with it." -Stout in "Blessed are the Organized" (pg. 12)

This quote goes with an issue I brought up in class when we discussed a part of Tocqueville.  I feel like one aspect of the cause behind democracy's somewhat decreased presence in the United States is the fact that the caring and active interest Stout brings up here is absent from the lives and minds of so many Americans.  With our popular culture today, there are so many other things that we would rather pay attention to (connection with Bellah), like sports, tv shows, fashion, etc.  Other things become more important and legitimate in our minds to occupy our time and attention.  It's important to recognize things you want change in and actually work with other people to accomplish that rather than becoming obsessed with other things and being isolated from others. 

Democracy Means Paying Attention

I like what Bellah says on pg. 277- "And the simultaneous disinvestment in 'human resources' has already shows itself in the social decay of crime, addiction, cynicism, eroded civility, weakened education, and most shockingly, perhaps, in the pervasive indifference of youth to the world around them."
I think that what he is saying here is that we've invested far too much into things and not into people, and therefore, these are the consequences.  Instead of spending time, money, ourselves, in others and the things that really matter, and getting the most out of the "human resources" that we have, we've wasted a lot of effort investing in short term things that will give us some type of pleasure or entertainment right away.  Bellah demonstrates how much this hurts the United States and how much more we could be "cultivating" people and growing up such a better world if we took the time to engage in each other's lives rather than the isolation that Tocqueville even observed in the nineteenth century.

Bowling Alone

I liked what Putnam said about technology's role in the loss of social capital in America (even if the outdated comment about the VCR was humorous).  He talks about how television and other technological advances allow people to be entertained by other things by themselves in place of more "basic" forms of entertainment with other people.  Were he writing this right now, he could say so much more about the role of technology.  This section made me think about how students now have the option to take high school classes (or college) online instead of actually going to school with other kids.  What are not only the social capital consequences of this, but what effect does this have on the students themselves who don't experience a real classroom and social environment during a crucial point in their lives?  Another example is texting and messaging online in chats rather than either talking to someone face to face or at least hearing their voice on the phone.  This definitely has changed the way we view communication and maybe allowed us to skip some participation in social groups, but it has also made other people instantly available to us and helped people long distances apart to stay connected.

Democracy in America IV

"...one is bound to notice all classes show great confidence in their country's legislation, feeing a sort paternal of love for it." -de Tocqueville in Democracy in America, pg. 241


At first when I read this, I thought he meant the actual legislation that has been passed in America and I immediately disagreed because we definitely do not all feel confident in all the laws that Congress passes.  For example, many people don't agree with Obama's new health care plan.  You definitely can't say that all classes in America feel very good, or confident, about this legislation.  But I think that de Tocqueville means law in general, like he talks about the respect for the law by Americans in this particular section.  I do feel that we are confident in the ways laws are passed and the way we obey them.  We have a lofty view of the idea of law and the intangible authority it has on our daily lives.  Part of the reason for this is like Alexis says, we feel some responsibility for what is passed into law because we elect our representatives in Congress.  I think another reason for this is the fact that we're all subject to the same laws and expected to submit to the law because of our participation in its existence.  It would have been interesting to talk to de Tocqueville and talk to him about the difference between Americans' and the French's idea of "respect for the law."