John J. Pitney Jr. is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a scholar of American politics. He contributed articles to The Weekly Standard between 1995 and 2002, writing on topics including political rhetoric, democratic theory, and the misuse of historical quotations in public discourse.
Democratic Delusions The Initiative Process in America by Richard J. Ellis University Press of Kansas, 240 pp., $17.95 paper TEVYE, the conflicted main character of "Fiddler on the Roof," pondered tough choices by arguing with himself, starting each new line of thought with the phrase, "On the…
IN HIS AUGUST 11 SPEECH to the Reform party convention in Long Beach, California, H. Ross Perot said: "Never forget de Tocqueville's words when he studied our country. He said America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases being good, America will cease being great."
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE'S site on the World Wide Web (http://www. democrats.org) recently invited computer users to take part in a high-tech lynching of Speaker Gingrich.
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America is a beloved, canonical text; the urge to quote from it is understandably great. Politicians ever seek to demonstrate familiarity with it, from Bill Clinton to Pat Buchanan. One of their favorite quotes runs as follows: