Working together on borrowed time

Jill at Business of Life has an interesting posting highlighting de Tocqueville's take on America and associations:

Alexis de Tocqueville, that famous French observer of Democracy in America,  observed how uniquely American was the characteristic to working together IN ASSOCIATION to achieve common goals.  Political factions and religious groups are the most obvious associations but de Tocqueville found Americans coming together in associations to plan fetes, raise churches, build inns and distribute books. 

In 1831, he remarked that at the head of a new undertaking, you would find the government in France, a great lord in England, and an association in the United States.