Drawing Wilson Out through Tocqueville and Progressivism
Reflect some more on Tocqueville’s analysis of bureaucracy/centralized administration. How does Tocqueville bring out the strengths of James Q. Wilson’s Bureaucracy book? What major problems of bureaucracy does he not sufficiently appreciate? How do both Tocqueville and JQ Wilson anticipate the problems that arise from Woodrow Wilson (no relation) and Franklin Roosevelt’s conceptions of government, as related in their speeches assigned for reading?
So your essay will require several steps: first, you need to understand the readings—Wilson’s book primarily; Tocqueville on centralized administration; the Progressive presidents’ speeches on how government should be reformed (note their clash with Federalist 51 and the Declaration). Second, you need to synthesize their arguments, comparing and contrasting them, while applying your own insights. Third, after doing all this you need to produce an essay that displays your knowledge of the diverse course materials that responds to the following steps.
- First, read this brief essay by James Q. Wilson on Tocqueville: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/tocqueville-and-america/ Note that he does not discuss the section from Tocqueville that we read. (There are good reasons he doesn’t.) But since you’ve read that section (Vol. II, Part 4), you can. I recommend the following procedure:
- Early in your essay, distill Tocqueville’s objections to centralized administration in a few paragraphs. Cite specific passages from Vol. II, Part 4 to support your argument.
- Next, summarize in a few paragraphs how the Progressive Presidents we read justified the government that required centralized administration. Cite specific passages in the speeches to support your argument. (To avoid confusion, when referring to President Woodrow Wilson, always state either President Wilson or WWilson when ambiguity might arise. Bureaucracy author Wilson is always Wilson.) The bureaucracy we know today grew under Lyndon Johnson, in the 1960s but owes its rationale to FDR and Woodrow Wilson.
- How might Wilson address Tocqueville’s objections based on what he says in Bureaucracy? (This will be the bulk of your essay.) It is not that Wilson justifies centralized administration, rather he tries to explain what happens within the bureaucracy, for better or for worse. Select several major examples from Wilson’s Bureaucracy book (five to seven) of problems that Tocqueville points to and then select several major examples (five to seven) of how bureaucracy works in a way that Tocqueville and Wilson might approve. You may also bring up non-Tocquevillean examples of bureaucratic competence or incompetence, such as Wilson’s own, but focus on Tocquevillean concerns.
- You should be able to draw from your DB posts. (And by the way I will devise your next DB on the Progressive presidents to assist your work on the midterm.) Please credit your classmates when appropriate. Bonus points for arranging your examples as contrasts or in some coherent arrangement.
Grading criteria: Knowledge of course materials displayed; ingenuity of your approach; elegant, clear writing.
Due: noon, Friday, October 9. (Extensions liberally granted, but you are responsible for reading the brief Hamburger book for your DB post the following Sunday.) Get started immediately, this is not a one-night exercise.
Length: Short as possible, long as necessary—shoot for 1800-2000 words, more or less.
Imperative: Do not use readings other than those from our course. Use of other sources is not merely discouraged; it is prohibited. Of course (for better or for worse) you can’t purge yourself of what you already know, but strive not rely on it.
Consultation: Unlike the final, for which a rough draft is required, the midterm exercise does not allow for reviews. But I am happy to answer your questions or perhaps even review an opening or concluding paragraph. See below for writing tips.
Documentation: Textual notes, for example (Wilson, p. 44) are fine, as are properly formatted footnotes (no endnotes). Use Ibid. or proper abbreviated references when appropriate. Single-spaced 14-point Times Roman font. Submit in word, no pdfs please.
Writing Tips (from syllabi from my other courses):
Strongly Recommended Online (and brief) Guides to Writing.
Please check their usefulness to you:
The classic book on writing is Strunk and White, Elements of Style (any edition will do). But a more useful work may be William Zinsser, On Writing Well. I prefer the 30th Anniversary Edition. The problem with using such wonderful books is that you first need to know when you're making a grammatical or stylistic mistake in order to know it needs correcting. Fortunately, I am here at your service….
• · The evils of the passive voice. There are other useful, brief guides you can find online.
• · The first few pages of this review of Henry Kissinger's new book rightly excoriate Kissinger's use of the passive voice. You don't need to be a critic of Kissinger to appreciate the critique.
• · The Right Attitude Toward Writing, a superb summary by a leading political scientist, Michael Munger, on the discipline required for writing.
• · William Zinsser’s lecture on writing, which he intended for foreigners writing in English, but it's a fine general guide. Again, I strongly recommend his classic guide, On Writing Well.
• · Some classic speech terms, fyi, no need to memorize.
• · Finally, George Orwell's classic essay "Politics and the English Language." (If you don’t like the way this version is formatted, try another; just google for another pdf.). N.B. his summary of writing evils to avoid on p. 139. Review the principles below. Keep in mind: There is no good writing, only good re-writing.
· Avoid common errors:
a. Always have a title (for everything you submit). It helps you focus your thoughts. You will definitely need to revise it as you write.
b. Make your last paragraph the first one of your final draft. That is, students usually don't know what they will conclude until they have written the paper. Often the last paragraph is the strongest of the paper. Make that strong paragraph your opening, and then reorganize the paper, so it's clear how everything you present in the paper supports the first paragraph.
c. Write to be read, not to express yourself. Forget Walt Whitman and keep in mind Abraham Lincoln instead.
d. Write in well-constructed paragraphs. Paragraphs have structures. They don't end on account of length. Weave paragraphs together to elaborate your thoughts. In speeches, short paragraphs are the rule.
e. Read good writing in order to know what it is.
f. And, once again: Abstain from the passive voice (please look up in Zinsser or Strunk and White, if you’re not familiar with the passive voice). As an exercise, take an old paper of yours and for a few pages convert all instances of the passive voice into active voice. The passive voice is the enemy of good social science, because it fobs off responsibility and obscures our understanding of causation. Explain why the passive voice may confuse understanding of the real issue. The classic example of bad passive voice is "Mistakes were made." This is a grammatical construction that projects an intellectual and moral failure--the inability to take or ascribe responsibility.
g. Yet again: There is no good writing, only good rewriting. It takes multiple drafts.
Heed my comments on your drafts. I make them using the Track Changes function under the Review tab. If you are not familiar with Track Changes please become so. I expect to see your final versions of speeches reflect my edits.