1. At a computing device in a distributed system, a method of assisting an endpoint in complying with a policy expression by applying an algebraic solution for normalizing the policy expression into a complete list of policy alternatives that the endpoint may select from, the method comprising acts of: accessing a policy expression defined by a plurality of policy assertions arbitrarily constrained by a first configuration of logical operators chosen from a list of available logical operators, the plurality of policy assertions arbitrarily constrained in that the policy expression can also be defined by constraining the plurality of policy assertions to a different configuration of the available logical operators; based on the first configuration of logical operators, utilizing a policy algebra to expand the policy expression into a normal form of policy alternatives corresponding to each possible combination of one or more of the plurality of policy assertions that will satisfy the policy expression; and presenting the plurality of policy alternatives to an endpoint for identifying one of the plurality of policy alternatives to use in complying with the policy expression.