2026-06-20
36 分钟The Economist.
I'm in a seminar room in a colonial-style house on the Harvard University campus with a group of about a dozen students.
They've heard the elevator pitch for my trip around America.
They've read some Tocqueville and they're geared up to have a lively discussion about freedom of expression.
But they're also here because there's free pizza.
After the slices have been distributed, we go around the room and introduce ourselves.
I'm a senior at the college.
I concentrate in history and literature, American studies and psychology.
I'm a first year at Harvard College and I'm an artist
and a dancer and I'm excited to be here with you guys.
For fear of sounding unoriginal, I'm also a freshman at Harvard College.
And I'm thinking of concentrating in philosophy.
I'm also a stand-up comic.
This dog, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just next to the city of Boston, is the halfway point of my journey.
In New York, I met people to whom America's equality of conditions
has been kind and encountered signs of a democratic malaise that would have worried Tocqueville.
In Singsing, I was reminded of this country's genius for running towards difficult problems
and of just how much things have changed since those prisoners went inside.
In Michigan, I saw the frontier expanding and local democracy being overrun by a giant torrent.
The picture that's starting to emerge has many colours.