Topic: Alexis de Tocqueville

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Opinion: Boston bombings: Come together, right now, on social media

After the Boston bombings, we, as Americans, rose together in a time of tragedy. Social media accelerated our camaraderie faster than ever. It can sustain it further still, despite some of the downsides of this technology.
Readers Write: The tyranny of America's pro-gun majority; Do guns make us safer?

Letters to the Editor for the April 1, 2013 weekly print issue: Those who want more gun regulation may be in the minority, and those who are anti-regulation in majority, but each must accommodate the other. If more guns means more safety, why does America – with the highest gun ownership rate in the world – have the second highest rate of gun deaths among industrialized nations?
Cover Story Chinese Communist Party: Would Mao recognize the paradox?

Chinese Communist Party: As the National People's Congress begins March 5 with a new generation of leaders, the party remains the backbone of power, but it is little-respected by the people, and its paradoxical capitalism would confound Mao.
The Monitor's View: With Hagel at Defense, what would be America's 'special role'?

America's historic identity as a people with a universal mission faces a new era in Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary. Israel and even military cuts aren't the core issues. America's 'special role' is.
After Cyber Monday frenzy, Giving Tuesday taps the quiet impulse to give (+video)

Giving Tuesday, launched by New York's 92nd Street Y, the United Nations Foundation, and 2,000 corporate and nonprofit partners, aims to make giving as fixed a holiday feature as shopping.
Opinion: The path forward in Georgia: Will billionaire Ivanishvili invest in democracy?

Georgia’s Oct. 1 parliamentary elections set up billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili to become prime minister. This presents a unique opportunity to build a consolidated democracy, develop civil society, and seek justice for those persecuted under President Mikhail Saakashvili.
What America's flawed democracy could learn from China's one-party rule

Democracy has its problems. The world – especially the US – could learn from China's 'political meritocracy.' Its one party selects leaders based on ability and judgment. They balance the interests of an entire country – and the world, not just finicky voters or big donors.
Opinion: The threat to American democracy that Romney and Obama aren't talking about

It's called the civics gap. Only one-third of Americans can name all three branches of government. Education reform's focus on high-stakes testing has sidelined civics education. To save American democracy, Romney and Obama must discuss how to help schools educate engaged citizens.
The Paul Ryan 2012 budget: What he learned in 2011

The Paul Ryan 2011 budget sounded like a graduate thesis on statistical steroids. Paul Ryan's 2012 budget is an 80-page campaign commercial.
The Monitor's View: God save the queen – and society – at lunch

In America and Britain, ideas to integrate a diverse society are being touted and tested. One idea is a 'big lunch' of neighbors for Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee. But can government enhance social cohesion?
The Monitor's View: America's rash retreat from marriage

In a nation soon to be dominated by single adults, more Americans find marriage obsolete or worth putting off. But can a society afford to have so many people unwilling to make a self-sacrifice to another in a bond that drives civilization?
Debt, deficits, and American morals

Behind the impasse in Washington over debt and deficits lies a moral, even religious, problem. How should a Christian respond to the economic debate?
Opinion: Why Lagarde should be IMF chief: Women make better leaders, sans Weiner-like libido

Christine Lagarde is the right choice to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF, and not just because of her experience. Women are more effective communicators and aren't libido-led leaders, like Anthony Weiner.
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris

How 19th-century America’s romance with Paris helped to change the course of US history.
Surging BRIC middle classes are eclipsing global poverty

By 2022, those living in poverty will be a minority for the first time, as the global middle class – particularly from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations – surges. Does new affluence signal shifting global power?
Classic review: Being America

How does the rest of the world see America?
Arab women: this time, the revolution won't leave us behind

Arab women were integral players in the post-colonial revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, but soon lost ground. They are vowing not to be marginalized in the wake of this year's Arab spring.
We should applaud when America is no longer exceptional in the world

Free enterprise flowered in the early United States as in no other nation. That made the US exceptional. In the 21st century, free enterprise has gone global. That's a good thing -- especially if other freedoms follow.
Can Warren Buffett and Bill Gates save the world?

How the Giving Pledge, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's quest to get billionaires to donate half their wealth to charity, will impact philanthropy and the world's needy.
Opinion: Obama's bigger problem with the Gulf oil spill: you

The Gulf oil spill reminds us that Americans are the most voracious consumers on earth. Until we break the bonds of slavery to personal comfort, no president can make us energy independent.
Parrot and Olivier in America

A French aristocrat and his British servant travel to America to study its penal system in this unlikely but delightful early 19th-century buddy comedy.
Difference Maker Extreme do-gooders – what makes them tick?

Five extraordinary social entrepreneurs talk about their defining moments - when the urge to change the world gathered such force they couldn't ignore it.
Taking the artistic pulse of Generation Y

Cheekily titled 'Younger Than Jesus,' New Museum's exhibition looks at the freshness and verve of artists under age 33.
Opinion: The tyranny of taxing 'sin'

Scrambling for revenue, politicians are pursuing higher taxes on junk food, alcohol, and tobacco – a clear threat to individual liberty.
Waking Giant: America in the Years of Jackson

A lively look at 1815-1848, America's coming-of-age era.