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/lit/ - Literature

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17337458 No.17337458 [Reply] [Original]

"The same person who is quite willing to leave the government of the entire nation in the hands of an autocrat balks at the idea of not having a voice in the administration of his village - such is the residual weight of the hollowest of political forms."

The whole of America in a sentence.

>> No.17337550

>>17337458
What's the best English translation of Democracy in America? I only ask because de Tocqueville apparently thought the first one was inaccurate and distorted his writing.
I really want to read this guy, ever time I hear him quoted it's great.
>"When he asked a sailor why American ships were built to last only a short time, "he answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making such rapid progress that the finest vessel would become almost useless if it lasted beyond a few years. In these words, which fell accidentally ... from an uninstructed man, I recognize the general and systematic idea upon which a great people direct all their concerns."

>> No.17337561

>>17337550
reminds me of iphones

>> No.17337893

>>17337550
Likely Goldhammer, but I don't know French. Can you post anything from the original to compare?
Some advantages of his translations are the Cambridge printing for Ancien Regime, DIA is part of the LOA editions which are always beautiful, and I think Goldhammer is the only translator of Recollections.

Try searching warosu, there are some recent quotes regarding revolution and pantheism in a progressivism thread, and also history in a Junger thread. The writing is concise, cutting, and flows well, although it would be nice to hear a French opinion.

>> No.17339248

Bump

>> No.17339262

friggin tourqville was sexy af.

>> No.17339704

>>17337458
>>17339262
Yooo I’m not gay but he kinda cute ngl

>> No.17340454

>>17337458
>The same person who is quite willing to leave the government of the entire nation in the hands of an autocrat balks at the idea of not having a voice in the administration of his village - such is the residual weight of the hollowest of political forms.
we've reached the complete inversion of this. the most obsessed over political office, the one most people consider themselves closest to, is that of the executive figurehead. many don't even know their neighbors and just assume someone at city hall, if they even know where that is, make sure the trash is collected on tuesday. local politics is dead, we orbit the center of decaying empire.

>> No.17340996

>>17340454
No, because the executive is meaningless other than to give the image of control within an increasing centralisation of power. That was what the last to governments were about, appeasing a continent-wide domestic sphere which demands a voice in its limited region.

People have no care for neighbours precisely because of the reach of their concerns, for many it is halfway across the country, if not the whole way. And in any case this 'decay' follows the contradiction he describes.
Part of this is also that power is at the farthest reaches of the empire, or more appropriately the grossraume. Disinterest is also tied to this force returning home, the great flight of races and classes is a reaction to it. There was no concern for the autocracy which turned against the very law of the West, and now the same forces will finally administrate the village.

>> No.17341802

Total mobilisation of power is a consequence of equality.
How does Nietzsche respond?

>> No.17341808

>>17341802
>a consequence of the will to equality.