NOW PLAYING
Few people who analyzed early American democracy remain as relevant as Alexis de Tocqueville. He held up a mirror to a very young United States, and his ideas about an overlooked American freedom of association — “liberty of action” — is still relevant in our 250th anniversary year.
Tocqueville was a French nobleman who arrived here in 1831 intent, ironically, to write a report on the American penal system. But instead of that long-forgotten study, it was his fascination with the character and structure of the early United States in his book, “Democracy in America” that became a sensation. He was a keen observer of both people and government, and a very clear writer. He expressed old concepts in a new way.
In particular, Tocqueville spoke admiringly of America’s “freedom of association,” as very different from Europe. In Europe, he said, people gather together for a cause, or association, “as a weapon of war to be hastily improvised and used at once on the field of battle.”
But in America, he said, association is “liberty in action.” We see a need, and we try to fix it. We gather together to get stuff done. Of course, Tocqueville expressed this far more elegantly. Associations are formed for all kinds of situations — in trade and industry, when a road is blocked, when a festival needs to be organized. Americans get together to volunteer.
He found it astonishing — and a major strength of democracy. But is it still relevant?
In this nation of entrenched political conflict, where “bowling alone” has become a phrase to demonstrate how detached we are from one another, find strength in our shared humanity? Can we overcome the recent habits of isolation and the resulting loneliness to reach for one another?
Absolutely. Every day.
We have hundreds of stories about which Tocqueville, were he alive today, would recognize what is taking place. The need for connection within ourselves extends to our own communities.
One of my organization’s members, Dina Gregory, spoke of watching an act of radical kindness in the subway that left her regretting that she had not acted first. But three years later, when she had the same opportunity, she took it. Through that small act, she realized, she said in her Tedx Talk, “That the future isn’t me. It’s we.” She started La Befana’s Table and podcast to make spaces for shared stories that speak to our shared connection.
Madeleine Spencer also saw the future as “we.” She began her work helping communities transform themselves through art, such as in Santa Ana, Calif., to bring life to downtown, and Akumal, in Mexico, which brought together artists to paint murals and begin a festival.
We have many more examples of people using their own creative acts to create connection. But what they are doing is necessary, just as critical as those of medics on a battlefield or in an emergency room.
Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy pointed out in a 2023 report that the epidemic of loneliness in America is as debilitating as smoking. A lack of connection leads to the decay of our towns and it results in serious health consequences for us individually. When we reach out to others, we make ourselves healthy, and our neighborhoods, too. Such actions make a difference. They are acts of healing.
We still need to gather together in those positive associations that a young Frenchman wrote about nearly 200 years ago. They have not fallen out of fashion. He was right then and now about the power for good these associations have.
So as we reach our nation’s landmark anniversary, let’s celebrate that overlooked freedom that Tocqueville coined — “liberty of action” to create something good. Let’s get stuff done, for each other and with each other.
Frederick J. Riley is the executive director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis de Tocqueville Dina Gregory Madeleine Spencer Vivek Murthy WeaveCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Congress Blog - Politics News
See All
Congress Blog - Politics The Great American Betrayal by John Mac Ghlionn, opinion contributor 4 hours ago Congress Blog - Politics / 4 hours ago 
