《论美国的民主·卷一·第十二章·合众国的政治结社》第6节
The greater part of Europeans look upon an association as a weapon which is to be hastily fashioned, and immediately tried in the conflict. A society is formed for discussion, but the idea of impending action prevails in the minds of those who constitute it: it is, in fact, an army; and the time given to parley serves to reckon up the strength and to animate the courage of the host, after which they direct their march against the enemy. Resources which lie within the bounds of the law may suggest themselves to the persons who compose it as means, but never as the only means, of success. Such, however, is not the manner in which the right of association is understood in the United States. In America the citizens who form the minority associate, in order, in the first place, to show their numerical strength, and so to diminish the moral authority of the majority; and, in the second place, to stimulate competition, and to discover those arguments which are most fitted to act upon the majority; for they always entertain hopes of drawing over their opponents to their own side, and of afterwards disposing of the supreme power in their name. Political associations in the United States are therefore peaceable in their intentions, and strictly legal in the means which they employ; and they assert with perfect truth that they only aim at success by lawful expedients.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段里提出了一组贯穿全章的核心对比：欧洲与美国的政治结社，虽然行使的是同一种权利，但对其性质的理解与使用方式截然相反。这一对比并非随意附会的文化感慨，而是他用来解释美国政治稳定的关键论证步骤。此前他已经分析了结社权利的三个层次——单纯的学说认同、集会权、以至选举代表团组成政党性的中央会议——而这段文字便将这三种形式在实际政治生活中的运行逻辑，落…