Throwing in my 2 cents worth . . . and trying to come at this from another angle. Democracy is a hard thing to achieve anywhere from the smallest grouping to the largest country. Maintaining engagement is difficult as energy and focus fades, as leaders' ambitions take over, as a group faces strong attacks, as it has to accommodate the needs and views of a diverse group. With all these things, it gets easier to draw the wagons tighter, to place boundaries defining groups out, to explain away antidemocratic actions as excusable and necessary. As hard as it is to achieve, it is important to strive for it in every organisation. This is especially the case with unions. For most in the US and elsewhere, only unions provide a real and sustained opportunity to learn how to live in a democracy. Most of the institutions that shape us are highly autocratic and antidemocratic -- the family, schools (which preach democratic values and then practice autocracy), and the workplace unless it is unionized. How can we maintain a democracy on a larger scale if there is no smaller school in which to learn and practice how to behave as a member of a democracy? These lessons not only include those peak moments when people are participating and empowered but also how they act and react when anti-democratic forces arise. So unions aren't perfect democracies and too often aren't even close, but for most they are the best there is. Ellen Ellen J. Dannin Professor of Law California Western School of Law 225 Cedar Street San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 525-1449 FAX: (619) 696-9999 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
