Quotes

"As soon as several Americans have conceived a sentiment or an idea that they want to produce before the world, they seek each other out, and when found, they unite. Thenceforth they are no longer isolated individuals, but a power conspicuous from the distance whose actions serve as an example; when it speaks, men listen." -Alexis de Tocqueville

This quote almost ended up in our VFW presentation twice but not without good reason. It very neatly sums up the whole purpose of voluntary associations.

"We have long rested comfortably in this country upon the assumption that because our form of government was democratic, it was therefore automatically producing democratic results. Now, there is nothing mysteriously potent about the forms and names of democratic institutions that should make them self-operative. Tyranny and oppression are just as possible under democratic forms as under any other. We are slow to realize that democracy is a life; and involves continual struggle. It is only as those of every generation who love democracy resist with all their might the encroachments of its enemies that the ideals of representative government can even be nearly approximated." -John Nichols

This quote is actually from an NPR piece from way back during the early days of the Wisconsin union protests. It's a reminder that a democracy without civic engagement is no longer the ideal government that we praise it to be.

"They [voluntary associations] are the points of "focal structure," places where people can meet to focus their attention and gain a sense of the whole of life through the cultivation of memory and orientation." -Bellah

This quote is interesting because it reveals the sort of circular relationship between voluntary associations and an engaged populace. Engaged citizens start associations, and the associations help focus citizens which can lead to more engagement.