ABSTRACT

COMMENTARY When he toured the United States in the 1830s, the French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville was impressed to the degree that Americans participated in all manner of civic groups and organizations. He wrote, “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small. . . .”1 Sociologists have recently debated whether Americans are currently as prone to join organizations as they were in the past.2 Whatever the outcome of that debate, civil society in America continues to consist of a plethora of groups of all kinds. There are tens of thousands of elected officials at all levels of government. In New York State alone there are 62 counties, 3,000 villages, and 1,000 cities or towns (called townships or parishes in other states). Elected citizens serve them all. Thousands of people serve as elected leaders of nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and arts organizations. Volunteers serve in many ways: homeowners’ associations, PTAs, athletic leagues, volunteer fire companies and ambulance corps, boards and committees connected to religious organizations, long-standing groups like Rotary, not to mention various political entities like school boards, zoning committees, and

library boards. The lists could go on. The task of leadership in all of these varied contexts often falls to college-educated people.