Associations

De Tocqueville claims that the main factor that divides associations in America and Europe at the time is how associations push for their claim. He writes that the European associations almost always claimed to represent the voice of the majority and held few qualms about pushing forth their agendas through whatever means were available to them. On the other hand, members of American associations recognized their minority status in society and chose instead to calmly advocate for the cause they represented.

This is certainly an aspect of American democracy that I think has floundered in recent years, and after considering de Tocqueville's words in light of modern politics, I would have to agree with him about the necessity of the American style replacing the European style. It seems that nowadays all sorts of factions are eager to demand change for the good of the entire country regardless of whether or not their agenda is good for the entire country. Our old buddies (who, on an unrelated note, seem to have lost some of their media hype recently) the Tea Party were certainly eager to champion themselves as the voice of the majority as do the unionists at the doors of the Wisconsin legislature today. Maybe, and this strikes me as a little odd, we should speak less about what the country needs and more about what we, as in you or I, need. I think we might have a sort of collective perspective corrupted by individual desire that fails to differentiate between what "I" need and what's good for the nation. If factions started describing their needs in terms of what THEY want and not what the country needs, we might be able to more easily work out a more pleasing compromise.

Then there's the problem of making sure the certain factions don't get too much say in the matter, but I will save that for a later post...