Citizens are expected
to actively participate in the political process.
A democracy cannot
function well unless the people (the "demos" in ancient Greek
language) take an active role in educating themselves about issues in society
and participating in civic life. Citizens exercise their rights to free
speech and freedom of assembly, and especially cast their votes on issues (in
referendum ballots) and for candidates for leadership offices. Some
citizens may run for public offices and serve in that way, but all citizens are
expected to be part of the political processes that keep the city, state or
country operating in beneficial ways.
In his famous
work from the 1830s, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville
put great stress upon the direct involvement of all citizens in the democratic
functioning of society, through their regular association with one another in
civic groups. Tocqueville urged that in a democracy, individual citizens need
to learn to unite in association with one another to work as a group to protect
their freedoms against the encroachment of tyranny. Tocqueville said that the
most democratic country on earth is, above all, where individuals have
"most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in
common." He thought there is a "necessary relation between
associations and equality."
