Week of November 13, 2001

For Tuesday, November 13,

Read. In The Democratic Idea,

#14, On Election to Parliament, (Edmund Burke) pp. 63

I'm going to be away from my computer this weekend (I wonder if I'll survive), which means that I'm not going to be available for consultation wit those who would like my help on the essay assignment. Consequently, I'm going to make a little modification in the assignment. I want to divide Tuesday's class into two parts. The first hour or so we'll spend on Edmund Burke's piece on Election to Parliament. Following that, I want to conduct a 1 hour writer's workshop on question 3.

We've seen that the United States Constitution represents a fairly suspicious attitude towards human nature and human behavior--a concern that if power in a representative government is too concentrated it is power too easily abused, to the detriment of minority rights. Burke raises a related issue. What precisely does it mean to represent a constituency? We'll consider the two classic views on this issue.

For the writer's workshop bring with you your best draft of your third essay. We'll do some small group work on it.

NO CARDS FOR TODAY.. YOUR DRAFT IS YOUR PASSPORT FOR ADMISSION.

Read, in The Democratic Idea,

#21, Democracy in America, (Alexis de Tocqueville) pp. 93 - 99

Following the success of the American Revolution and the installation of the new Federal Government, the liberal elements in the nations of Europe had hopes of similar social reforms happening in their own countries. Time after time, these hopes were frustrated, and thinkers such as De Tocqueville sought to uncover reasons for the difference in outcomes. De Tocqueville finds the answer in a "fundamental equality of conditions" in America which was missing in the nations of Europe. We'll try to understand his reasoning in this introduction to his famous book, and in the course of it we'll experience a whirlwind tour of 700 years of French history. Fasten your seatbelts.