Paper idea

I've been trying to work through some ideas for the paper and this is what I have so far.
De Tocqueville- An outsider looking in. Was looking for the reasons for success so he could pass his findings onto the French.

De Tocqueville was interested in analyzing the ways and reasons for democracy's success in America. His umbrella reasons boil down to laws, mores and habits. Americans have the habit and the belief of working for their own good. Therefore democracy relies on self-interest in the government.

Relating self-interest to the volunteer associations
People join associations because of something that they are motivated by or feel strongly about. Associations work to spread awareness. The most serious associations work to spread awareness in order to make a change. The changes they propose are presented to the government. By lobbying they take an active role in influencing their government to make changes for their personal interest. Ex: The American Colonization Society worked to "relocate" freed slaves to what is now Liberia. The association secured government funding to run the program. Members of the society were mostly citizens who were worried about the repercussions of having free slaves living in America.

I also really want to talk about America's ability to make "retrievable mistakes" but I need to think a little more about integrating that with self interest. Perhaps "mistakes" want to be fixed when the interests of the people change.