Shooting Niagara: And After? by Thomas Carlyle

In this episode, Gurnee and Idaho wrap up their Carlyle homework with a discussion on Shooting Niagara: And After?. This essay remarks on England's Reform Act of 1867 which further extended voting right to male urban working men: "This delirious 'new Reform measure'...pushes us at once into the Niagara rapids: irresistibly propelled, with ever-increasing velocity, we shall now arrive". Carlyle makes additional critiques to democracy and also points to some predictions and solutions to the problem. He particularly puts his faith in the aristocracy to reassert itself and has ideas on where new elites can be found. Our gallant hosts also attempt to apply Carlyle's philosophy of to modern day politics.