Organizing the Association

Reading Jeffrey Stout's, "Blessed are the Organized," was a nice way to tie together many of the concepts we have explored thus far this semester.   His article deals largely with the grass-roots organization, and the importance of using well-organized groups of citizens to foster social change.  The quote, "Democracy...is a way of life, not a formula to be preserved like jelly"(3)  was particularly noteworthy to me, because it draws together the ideas of Whitman, Mary Ryan, Putnam, and Tocqueville, who all asserted that Americans have a responsibility to keep a spirit and the life of democracy going through their individual and collective efforts.  However, I think the difference for Stout is, as the title of his book implies, organization.   In reading many of the class articles, I was disappointed by the authors' ambiguity.  In Putnam, for example, the vague assertion that Americans need to return to civic engagement and voluntary associations is his best advice for rectifying the state of American Democracy.  While I was often irritated at Stout's clear, evident, and sometimes unsupported political bias, I appreciated that he was able to offer some clear insight into how to go about improving the state of associations in America.  He writes, "There is a way to begin.  Do a preliminary power analysis.  Talk to one institutional official in your community.  Then talk to another.  Search out potential leaders.  Begin cultivating their skills and virtues as well as your own. Keep talking until you can form a planning group.  And reach out to professional organizers for help"(285).   He offers a vision which can actually be followed and implimented, rather than leaving readers hypothesizing, perhaps without previous experience in organizations, about where to begin.  I give praise to Stout for not only articulating the importance and succes of organized groups, but also for helping readers learn how to apply his ideas in their own lives.