European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Now it s for americans one by one to determine their part. Not Long after lunch a group gathers at the Pleasants county Board of education office in St. Marys w. A. They Are pretty much your average Guys a few administrators a school psychologist a local Newspaperman. Their Energy however is remarkable. They have Hope and beyond Hope they have Money in the Bank. Theirs is one of the Best school systems in the state a successful combination of innovative programs and total Community commitment that has earned top National honors. Everyone is in on the act local businesses sponsor students students respond to teachers teachers communicate with parents parents incorporate education at Home. They can t quite believe a reporter from new York is hanging out in tiny St. Marys to hear what s of their minds. No sirens or Bells or big Story. This stuff they Are talking about is simply close to their hearts. I remember when Nixon referred to the great silent majority. Well it s True that for whatever reason mainstream America is one of the least vocal sectors says Larry gainer an administrative assistant. Sometimes maybe we feel the problems Are so Large that we can t do anything. One thing we can do though whether in a Rural town or on 10 blocks in a City we can take one Patch and make a sounds easy but Faith is sometimes hard to come by. Everybody wants the easy Way says Fred Krieg last year s National school psychologist of the year. The members of a crime watch program in Massachusetts videotape prostitutes and their customers. Not question that America needs to ask in t what should i do we already know what needs to be done. The question is what s keeping me from doing it " millions already Are. They be done the moaning and Felt overwhelmed taken Stock and adjusted expectations. They be sat around the round tables participated in the talk. Now Many feel it s time to get up from the table the Price of sitting still is too High we be reached a Point where the Economy the violence the state of our schools and questions about morality touch us All Krieg says. There s this idea that it s not what you do but who you Are. Well that s Bull. You Are in fact at least to some extent what you the quilt is out there heavy and haphazard it s True. But people everywhere say they Are prepared to help mend the frayed edges reach out and bind Square to Square. You can t get it done All at once says Chuck Mason 38, who has found Home in the Small town West Virginia paper he now runs. And you can t get it done All the new spirit of activism one for All All for one by the associated press communitarianism. It s a somewhat unfortunate name. Mention it to the average person and the most common response is commune what it sounds like a Cross Between communism and some sort of congregational religion. But basically communitarian simply believe that America must realign the balance Between the rights of individuals and the responsibilities All members of a society have to one another. To take and not to give is an amoral self entered predisposition that ultimately no society can tolerate writes the movement s founder Amita Etzioni in his recent Book the spirit of Community anyone who has Ever been in a scout Troup on a sports team or part of a religious group understands this. It s fundamental stuff part of our National Creed. Scholars politicians and policy Call it communitarianism but most people know it simply As Good citizenship communitarian proponents whose themes president Clinton has sounded come from both the left and the right. They advocate a Range of measures against social irresponsibility from drug testing for Public transportation workers to stricter divorce child support and gun control Laws. The country is sick and tired of the decline and decay Etzioni said in an Ada Alexander closed off a Philadelphia Street to serve Hung neighbourhood kids. Interview. But signs Are there that that we re beginning to turn the Corner. There is a willingness to sacrifice. That s what will make or break the whole thing. It s a question of people taking care of their own Fate instead of relying on Uncle this is an idea Many citizens relate to though it in t easy. In Inkster mich., for instance Wayne county sheriff Robert Ficano set up a checkpoint to screen out. Drug dealers. Residents Many of whom Felt besieged by a Small group committing crimes applauded the idea. Together with the sheriff s department they supported the strategy. You re seeing this extreme desire to sacrifice individual rights for the collective Good Ficano said. But the american civil liberties Union and the mayor of Inkster did not see it that Way. They challenged the program in court winning an injunction based on the argument that such checkpoints violate individual rights and protections guaranteed by the state Constitution the Case now under Appeal raises questions that Cut close to the heart of an Ideal americans cherish personal Liberty but As the nation groans under the weight of its troubles other questions Are folded into the mix. If you ask people what s on people s minds they will not bring up the inflation rate or the Gnu or even the unemployment rate unless they re particularly affected said David Blankenhorn president of the Institute for american values and a co signer of the communitarian platform. They bring up issues about the local Quality Opi Ife and relationships As husband and wife Parent and child neighbor and neighbor. That s what s falling communitarianism seeks a balance but has a Long Way to go. We do not claim to have the answers to All that troubles America these Days Etzioni writes. However. If More and More americans come Forward and join together to form Active communities. We will have Many More ways to make our society a place in which individual rights Are vigilantly maintained while the seedbeds of civic virtue Are patiently monday january 31,1994 the stars and stripes 27
