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I am going to concentrate on the fortunate aspect of this development, namely, that I am experiencing, and later today will experience more, the dichotomies of government and freedom, community and individuality, etc., on a "micro" and personal level. I anticipate that it will be a learning experience for me, and hopefully I can extrapolate any enlightenment I receive into visions for synthesizing these apparently competing forces on a larger scale.

Another piece of good news I just learned through the reliable neighborhood phone tree is that several other guys down the street from me were recently gathered on one front porch and were unabashedly pronouncing their vexation over the upcoming neighborhood association event and all its evil portent. Ahh. I have allies..

I specifically said "guys" above because here's another interesting fact: the wife, and another couple of wives on the block, are much less concerned that the outcome of this meeting will be rules about how often we all have to mow our lawns and what colors we can paint our houses; they feel that its purpose is probably to put some organization to things like a neighborhood watch and, perhaps, an annual social event. Would that I could be so innocent and optimistic.

Or can I be? Is it possible to actually meld the seemingly opposite notions of "democratic community self-determination" and "keep government of any type off my back, dammit!" by ensuring, as much as possible, that the participation is as complete as possible? If the votes are there, any clique-driven nonsense shouldn't make it through, and moderation should prevail. The task, then, is to avoid the temptation to sit it out, and in fact do the very opposite and try to get as many of one's neighbors there as possible.

The parallels to larger forms of government are obvious. Our Constitution -- as amended -- sets up a beautiful means of allowing majority rule while it successfully thwarts that majority's bent to tyranny. If tonight's NA meeting looks to that model in at least a general sense, I'll feel much more comfortable. Also, voter turnout is absolutely key in the accuracy of elections. Sure, there are the recording and counting parts -- another thing, honestly, to be mindful of even in as benign a poll as tonight's -- but I don't believe enough is done to increase the process input's volume.

What does it take to convince people that one must participate in a democratic republic in order to maintain its very definition?