Simply put, Jefferson viewed democracy is a verb. Democracy, he would infer, is informed action, waiting within the experience of each citizen for acknowledgement and empowerment (West 1991; Schleifer 1991). This information may mean we need to revisit a long forgotten theme – that in colonial America, citizens were expected to act in dual roles: communal (helping one another) yet independent (entrepreneurial). In order to accomplish both tasks in a knowledgeable manner, the colonial citizen required some experience as a citizen leader as well as a citizen determinant of one’s one income.

Pryor, C. (2002). The mission of the scholar: research and practice. (Wolfe & Pryor, Eds.). New York: Lang.

Thanks!