Alexis de Tocqueville discussed how he believed that majority rules in the United States. He writes about how the majority in America has control over the opinions of the masses and how people do not think for themselves. The latter part of that is true. The masses do not form many of their own opinions but these opinions are not given to them, like Tocqueville says, by the majority. These "ready made opinions" (Tocqueville 11) are given to American people by a powerful few. Tocquville's writing does not apply to the US today because several kinds of minorities wield inordinate amounts of power in modern American society.

The media is the main source of information for America today. Tocqueville

The Religious right, who supports the Republican candidate, wants to "bring America back to moral sanity" in the words of Jerry Falwell, one of the movements founders. The reason that they want this is so they can have control of the masses. "Religion itself holds sway much less as a doctrine of revelation than as a commonly received opinion."(Tocqueville 11). The few people in charge of the Religious Right are not asking the American people to think but just to follow their lead.

Religion has ingrained itself into mainstream American politics. The current Reform Party and many portions of the Republican party platforms evidence this.

Tocqueville was not wrong when he talked about the ideal of a democratic society working in America. That ideal democratic socie

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Approximate Word count = 519
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)