What are the roles of the Citizen in American Democracy? If one were to ask this question of Alexis de Tocqueville, he would have had quite a lot to say about it. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat who lived from 1805 to 1859. In 1831, he came to the U.S. for nine months to observe revisions of the prison system, but he ended up seeing so much more. He ended up writing two books- volumes I and II of Democracy in America (unc). This work deals with the legislative and administrative systems in the U.S., and with the influence of social and political institutions on the habits and manners of people (F & W's).
             One of Tocqueville's main focuses was on the concept of "enlightened self-interest". But what is self-interest? For eons, we have heard that it is not good to be selfish and that one should strive to be unselfish. Yet the very concept of being unselfish, of acting without self interest is an utter impossibility in the light of the fact that everyone of us will only do that which we believe to contribute the most to our perception of well being or happiness or that which keeps us further away from unhappiness.
             So in every conscious act, we are either moving towards that which we believe will make us happy or contribute to our well being or we are moving away from that which we believe takes away from our well being or that which we believe will makes us unhappy. All our actions then are made in view of what we believe constitutes well-being and happiness - and our personal definition of well-being and happiness of course can vary drastically from others.
             Every single person without exception is acting based upon what serves their perceived perception of their highest self-interest. Although it is impossible to act without self-interest, there is, however, a huge difference in the quality of self-interest. For example, an opium addict thinks that acquiring opium
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