COMMUNITARIANISM SOLVENCY 66

COMMUNITARIANISM IS A PROCESS WHICH CREATES DEMOCRACY AND THE BEST DECISIONS ON ISSUES

COMMUNITARIANISM IS NOT DOGMATIC, ACCEPTING ONLY PARTICULAR BELIEFS, BUT IS OPEN TO IDEAS, WHICH IS HOW IT PROMOTES DEMNOCRACY

INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITARIAN POLICY STUDIES, 2000; The Communitarian Platform,

Our communitarianism is not particularism. We believe that the responsive community is the best form of human organization yet devised for respecting human dignity and safeguarding human decency, and the way of life most open to needed self-revision through shared deliberation. We believe that the human species as a whole would be well-served by the movement, as circumstances permit, of all polities toward strongly democratic communities. We are acutely aware of the ways in which this movement will be (and ought to be) affected by important material, cultural, and political differences among nations and peoples. And we know that enduring responsive communities cannot be created through fiat or coercion, but only through genuine public conviction.

WHILE SOME ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY BONDING ARE EMOTIONAL AND NON-RATIONAL, THE COMMUNITY IS A RATIONAL DOMAIN ALL THE WHILE

We may readily admit that the bonds of community are largely emotional and nonrational. Yet rationality is by no means excluded. It would be strange indeed to think of participation in communities as irrational or self-destructive. This is so in part because we expect communities to be settings within which people can be rational about their interests, purposes, and connections. Rationality is enhanced because participation in communities is mediated by participation in families, localities, networks, and institutions. This social fabric does much to preserve autonomy and good sense. Thus the demands of community are not opposed to rational judgment and personal autonomy. On the contrary, any radical abridgment of these values will corrupt or even destroy community.

ONLY THE FULL FUNCTIONING OF A REPUBLIC CAM RESOLVE PRIVACY ISSUES

Herbert W. Lovelace, InformationWeek, August 16, 1999, Pg. 104, TITLE: Trust Us, We'll Protect You -- Once Again, Our Society Faces Important Decisions About Government Involvement And Personal Privacy // acs-VT2001

We have serious decisions ahead. To what extent are we willing to give up individual privacy for the potential protection of society as a whole? How much do we trust our government officials not to misuse their power?

These are difficult questions, but not new ones. I am reminded of a vignette of the days of the Constitutional Convention. As the story goes, a citizen approached Benjamin Franklin as he walked from the meeting hall:

"Dr. Franklin," the citizen asked, "what form of government have you given us?"

Franklin's reply was succinct: "A republic, if you can keep it."