Democracy in America
2010
by
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America has, indeed, rumbled on since the era of De Tocqueville. However, American democracy has barely survived, and a good part of the reason is that the deeply layered web of voluntary associations and institutions has been worn thin and become almost powerless. The tree of democracy, whose trunk is precisely that web of voluntary associations and institutions that connect the branches of government to the roots, comprised of the people, has lost its well-rounded, healthy shape.
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About the Book
Since Alexis de Tocqueville's seminal work on American democracy, no one has attempted to diagnose the current state of democracy in the United States. This book is a modest attempt to do such an update, based on both democratic theory and the author's actual practice in governing one city (Miami) for three terms. As with De Tocqueville, Suarez reports from his perspective as an immigrant, but also from the perspective of a trial lawyer, college professor and politician with half a century of being fully immersed in the American experience.
About the Author
Xavier L. Suarez served three terms as Mayor of Miami (1985-93). As a public official, he distingushed himself through many honors, including Esquire Magazine's Political Figure of the Year and the Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Christians and Jews. The author's ecletic education began with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering obtained from Villanova University in 1971 (summa cum laude) and joint degrees from Harvard University in Law and Public Policy (19750. Previous written works include A Unified Theory of God, Mind and Matter.(2005)