In my opinion, Portman’s argument falls short of its intended target. Portman claims that the diminishing roll size of organizations that were popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s indicates that Americans are moving away from Tocqueville’s nation of joiners to a nation of strangers. However, I believe that this doesn’t prove his point so much as demonstrating the shifting interests of the general American public. For example, at one point in time if you asked anyone what America’s favorite pastime was they would have replied with baseball. However, if the same question was posed today, baseball may be the instinctive response due to the phrase’s ubiquity in our national vernacular, but, if considered for a moment, the answer would most likely would…show more content… The joining which Tocqueville was so found of can still readily be found within the borders of our nation. The joining has partially moved from the physical sphere to the digital, however, whether it is dumping buckets of ice water on your head to raise awareness for a disease or organizing a nationwide march in support of human and women’s rights, it is still active. Furthermore, I can think of numerous times when my family was facing a hardship and friends and neighbors came to our aid, bringing us meals and running errands for us. Additionally, since the time of Portman and certainly since the time of Tocqueville, modern homeschooling has seen a dramatic uptick in participation. While Portman may have viewed this as another example of the nation withdrawing from itself, it is actually strong supporting evidence in favor of Tocqueville. The easiest way to ensure your children obtain an education is to send them to a public school. It involves minimal effort on your part, possibly the occasional bake sale or PTA conference. Alternatively, homeschooling requires a strong, time-intensive commitment on the part of the guardian in order to provide the best possible learning experience to their child. Furthermore, in order to cope with this extraordinary commitment, homeschoolers have banded together creating groups to share procedures, learning experiences, and advocate for causes. In fact,
