Democracy in America Today: Tocqueville, Congress, and Decentralized Power

Democracy in America Today: Tocqueville, Congress, and Decentralized Power

From Project Cosmos: Conversations on the Future of Civilization by Intercollegiate Studies Institute

March 24, 2026 · 1h 34m · Season 1 · Episode 8

About this episode

The episode features a roundtable discussion on the relevance of Tocqueville's work to modern American politics.

Join host Johnny Burtka with Yuval Levin, Sarah Gustafson, Vincent Munoz, and Sohrab Ahmari for an in-depth conversation about Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and its relevance to contemporary American politics. This roundtable explores Congress and democratic governance, the administrative state, religion in democracy, and the formation of democratic citizens in our modern age. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Why Congress must predominate in a republic 7:22 - Andrew Jackson and the paradox ...

People in this episode

Host: Johnny Burtka

Guests: Yuval Levin, Sarah Gustafson, Vincent Munoz, Sohrab Ahmari

Topics covered

  • American politics
  • democratic governance
  • Congress
  • administrative state
  • religion in democracy
  • formation of democratic citizens

Keywords

  • Tocqueville
  • democracy
  • Congress
  • politics
  • administrative state
  • religion
  • citizenship

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Democracy in America

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