The Lost Art of Association
Commentary
America is a nation of joiners. When the French aristocrat and political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the early 1830s, he was astonished at all the ways Americans associated.
He wrote, “Of all countries in the world, America has taken greatest advantage of association and has applied this powerful means of action to the greatest variety of objectives.”
The American art of association was so extraordinary to Tocqueville because Europe had long relied upon either the aristocracy persons of wealth and prestige who headed their own estates or the government to do the sorts of things that Americans did through associations. Tocqueville writes, “Wherever, at the head of a new undertaking, you see in France the government, and in England, a great lord, count on seeing in the United States, an association.”
Virtual Assembly: A Constitutional Alternative to the Real Thing?
americanthinker.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from americanthinker.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Lost Art of Association
realclearpublicaffairs.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from realclearpublicaffairs.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.