The Non-Fungible Value of Local Associations and its Invisibility to Law

This article centers on the idea that there is a non-fungible value inherent in local associations. It uses the work of Paul Kahn to animate what that value might be and to consider why law might not have a clear sightline to it. In Democracy in Our America, Kahn, leaning on Tocqueville’s earlier work, reflects on the nature of volunteerism in local self-government and the value of local associations. Drawing on his experience-based account of the practice of local self-government, I suggest that local associations have a non-fungible value which comes in three dimensions: The dimension of care, the dimension of character, and the dimension of forum vibrancy. In The Cultural Study of Law, meanwhile, Kahn considers what the practice of the rule of law looks like and suggests that law is blind to other possible ways of framing and analyzing events. Building on this perspective, I reflect on how the practice of the rule of law ends up being blind to the value that is intrinsic to the local associations that vivify local communities. Through this lens, we can also understand more fully than has been possible to date why legal codifications of the principle of subsidiarity fail to result in a genuine preference for proximity.