- 1). Acknowledge that success or failure must be judged by its affect on everyone. Alex de Toqueville, a french aristocrat writing about America during colonial times, said that he found an unconscious recognition among Americans that self-interest meant public interest. He said it seemed natural for Americans to better their own lives by banding together to better all their lives. He suggested that self identification, or our definition of ourselves, is created by our membership in a group or population. He went further, putting forth the observation that it was natural for Americans to consider damage to anyone in the group as damage to everyone in the group.
- 2). Create laws that the general public considers just. It is the nature of all human beings to allow their own needs to occasionally overcome the need to provide for everyone. Laws are made to deal with these occasional lapses of vision. John Locke attached this need to the cohesiveness of the group. "Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power vested in it; a liberty to follow his own will in all legal things and not to be subject to the inconstant, unknown, arbitrary will of another man.
- 3). Remove any law or practice that produces small groups with special status or power. Anything that reduces the cohesiveness of the public or separates one part of the public from the rest weakens the public interest. Slavery and the abusive laws and practices that followed damaged the public well-being by creating special rules and status for one part of the population. Also, any systemic change that gives one part of the population special power or privileges damages the public interest. For example, an election system which depends on large contributions from a few rich individuals instead of small contributions from the general public diverts the attention of public officials to the needs of the few and damages the public interest.
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