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The Communitarian Update
Number 34
March 7, 2001
Federation for Community Planning
Amitai Etzioni will serve as Keynote Speaker at the Federation for Community Planning's
59th Annual Human Services Institute in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday,
3/ 14/01. 9:00 a.m. at the Cleveland Convention Center. For more
information on the conference, see http://www.fcp.org/
Poll Indicates Active Communities
Three-quarters (77%) of Americans feel connected to their communities, and say
the quality of life there is excellent or good. Two-thirds (65%) feel optimistic
that their community's best years as a place to live are still ahead. And, in
an even greater indicator of involvement, 111 million Americans volunteered their
time to help solve problems in their communities during the past 12 months, with
more than 60 million volunteering on a regular basis. According to a recent poll,
conducted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, available at
http://www.pew-partnership.org/whatsnew.html
A Third Way Tax Package
A new policy brief by Isabel Sawhill and Adam Thomas, entitled "A Tax
Proposal for Working Families with Children" is available. Very briefly,
the authors analyze an alternative to the Bush proposal that would be
more fiscally responsible and more broadly distributed. Its core component
is an expanded and partially refundable child tax credit. The full brief
can be found at
http://www.brook.edu/wrb/publications/pb/pb03/pb03.htm
Thomas Speaks
Justice Clarence Thomas told an American Enterprise Institute annual dinner,
that he opposed President Bush's call for compromise and harmony. "Today there
is much talk about moderation," but there is an "overemphasis on civility."
Claimed Thomas, "The insistence on civility in the form of our debates has the
perverse effect of cannibalizing our principles, the very essence of a civil
society."
Next: The Road to the Good Society
Marvin Olasky: "For those of us bored by ponderous and predictable liberal
treatises, Next is a succinct and creative pleasure. All those debating America's
political future should think through its proposals." Rabbi Harold Kushner:
"Intelligent, impassioned, insightful-Etzioni's is a voice we need to listen to."
Amitai Etzioni's newest book, just published by Basic Books.
Anti-Semitic or Color Blind?
The Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club has just one Jewish member, but its officers
insist they have no bias. Florida's Republican governor, Jeb Bush, who wrote to the
club in March 2000 to "humbly request" that it begin "aggressively recruiting Jewish
and minority applicants," received no response even after leaving follow-up messages.
Far from admitting anti-Semitism, Richard G. LaValley, a Royal Palm officer says "We
don't ask a person's religion. It's not in any of the forms. How do you tell a person's
a Jew by looking at him?" Mr. LaValley also says he doesn't know of any African-American
members.
Public Agenda Online
Public Agenda Online - http://www.publicagenda.org - the widely acclaimed Web site of
Public Agenda, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, contains a synthesis of
facts, statistics, news, and national survey data on a broad range of major public policy
issues from abortion and education to campaign finance reform and Social Security. It
also features new research on religion and education standards.
Need title
In the last issue of REASON magazine: "Who needs altruism when we've got greed? In
fact, greed can be much more efficient than altruism." And "television violence
has never been shown to cause hostile behavior."
Ecircles Conversations Continue
Lively debates on issues important to communitarians. Join the discussion:
http://wwwld-00-18-ec.ecircles.com/magic/products/circle/settings.cgi?circleID=3300684
Conference on Community
The Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE), the leading research
institute applying the principles of complexity theory to organizations, will be
sponsoring a conference on Complexity and Community. Students of complexity theory
and/or community explore how these two fields of study inform each other in Vancouver,
BC, from May 9-13, 2001. For more information, check ISCE's web site:
http://isce.edu and click on "Conferences."
Moral Contradictions
Sociologists James Davison Hunter and Carl Bowman designed and then analyzed the
results of a national survey of 1,200 randomly selected Americans, attempting to
find out what they actually mean when they talk about character and moral values.
For example, nine in 10 survey respondents agreed that character means "sacrificing
your own interests for the good of others." Exactly the same percentage said that
"protecting your own interests" is important to good character. Eight in 10 survey
respondents agreed that "following your own conscience" is a mark of strong character.
An even greater number--nine in 10--said that "obeying those in positions of authority"
is a good character trait. (Washington Post, 2/25/01)
The International Communal Studies Association's Conference
The International Communal Studies Association's next conference is from June 25-27
in Berlin, Germany. ICSA2001 presenters are coming from all over the world, and all
presentations and other activities will take place, in English, within the grounds
of one of the most interesting communal groups in the world today. For more information,
email the ICSA President, Dr Bill Metcalf at: w.metcalf@mailbox.gu.edu.au or access
the ICSA2001 website at: http://www.antenna.nl/icsa/
Be an endorser!
Since being reopened last March we have had over 100 new endorsers to the platform!
To read and endorse the platform, go to:
http://www.communitariannetwork.org. Some recent endorsers include Dr. David Anderson of Potomac, MD, Professor Richard Coughlin
of Albuquerque, NM and Marybeth Greenan of Mason City, IA.
Internet by the People?
Supporters of a self-governing Internet may wish to look closely at Bush's promise
"to shift power from a handful of leaders in Washington to individual citizens."
What he means is to let people gain access to federal information and conduct business
with federal agencies online.
Communitarian Theory Seminar
This is to announce an invitation-only seminar on New Developments in Communitarian
Theory, to be conducted by Amitai Etzioni before the opening of the SASE meeting in
Amsterdam. The special session (which will pay special attention to transnational
communities) will take place from 9 to 12 am on Thursday, June 28.
No fees are involved, but space is limited and registration is required. For more
information, to register yourself, or to nominate someone else to attend the conference,
contact Joanna Cohn at comnet@gwu.edu (be sure to put the word "seminar" in the subject line)
or fax at 202.994.1606. (Those who seek to participate in the SASE meeting must register
independently. For details, visit
http://www.sase.org/homepage.html or call 410.435.6617.)
Subscribe to the Responsive Community
Visit The Responsive Community on our web: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq.
If you would like to receive a FREE sample of our publication for yourself or your organization, please let
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