olitical power and influence exists outside of the government; one needs only look at the NRA and the NAACP to understand this potential. If permitted, such associations, as well as numerous others, could provide a means of citizen representation far more efficiently than a centralized government. This improvement in efficiency is due to the fact that all laws are not always the right laws for all people in all parts of the country. The process of citizen representation through associations has multiple possibilities. Petitions can be used as a means for associations to gain citizen support for the issues at hand. With the Internet as well as the centralized living in America it would not be difficult for groups to contact other members of the community and approach them regarding a certain issue. If the associations acquired a majority support in a given area then the issue would become policy or law and the representatives would the institute the law or policy as it was devised by the association. So it is understood that political freedom is a possibility in America. I have taken the understanding of de Tocqueville and Arendt and applied their principles and visions to formulate and understand where America is in the present and where America needs to head if political freedom is to become a reality. I understand that this vision, my own vision, is very rough and is vulnerable to much criticism, but it must be realized what potential exists in America. Arendt and Tocqueville have paved the road to political freedom; now it is up to the citizens to travel that road and obtain the freedom that founded our nation....
