民主究竟是治世良药,还是祸患之源?自其诞生之际争论就不绝于耳。当民主平等的思潮不可遏制地冲进旧的贵族体系,一种躁动在萌发,法国人期望通过一场彻底的大革命将法国带出僵直的政治体制。他们以极大的政治热情推翻了旧的贵族体系,然而期望中的自由和平等并未如期而至,相反,各种动乱和纷争使有志之士开始探索国家的道路所在。托克维尔在考察了美国社会的政治体制之后,清醒地看到民主的潮流不可逆转,然而,民主社会自身也存在巨大的弊端。美国自治乡镇的权力架构,以及英国的自治传统、商业的特殊作用、宗教的洗礼等维护乡镇自治的因素,这些论述凸显出乡镇自治的重要作用:其构成了美国的政权基石,同时也成为美国政府权力的主要来源,更重要的是这种独特的政治体制激发了人民自我管理与政治参与的强烈愿望,也使人民受到良好的政治教育。 Whether democracy is a cure for the world, or the source of the scourge? Ever since the birth of the debate on it. When the ideological trend of democracy and equality can not but contain and burst into the old aristocracy, a kind of restlessness is emerging, and the French desire to bring France out of a rigid political system through a complete revolution. They overthrew the old aristocracy with great political enthusiasm. However, the freedom and equality of expectation did not come as expected. On the contrary, all kinds of turmoil and strife enabled ambitious people to start exploring the country. After examining the political system of American society, Tocqueville soberly saw that the trend of democracy is irreversible. However, there are also huge drawbacks to the democratic society itself. The autonomy of townships and towns in the United States, as well as the autonomy tradition in Britain, the special role of commerce, the baptism of religion, and other factors that safeguard the autonomy of towns and villages highlight the important role of township autonomy: they constitute the cornerstone of the United States regime and at the same time, More importantly, the main source of government power and, more importantly, this unique political system has inspired the strong desire of the people for self-management and political participation and has given the people a good political education.