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Good Samaritan Awards
Books
Articles & Papers
News & Events
Recent Stories in Policy Review
Pope John Paul II on Democracy
Sen. Bill Bradley on Civil Society

Good Samaritan Awards

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Books

The Value of Victorian Virtues
The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values by Gertrude Himmelfarb (Knopf)
Maybe it's not so bad being a Victorian moralist after all. True, writes Himmelfarb, the Victorians could be stuffy, self-absorbed moralists. But it is equally true that they acted "on behalf of the poor, whom they sought not only to assist materially but also to elevate morally, spiritually, culturally, intellectually." The distinction provides a crucial lesson for contemporary welfare reformers. The Victorians are moralists in the sense that they believed in virtues-qualities of character and morality that were desirable for every citizen in a civilized society. Late-20th-century America no longer believes in virtues, Himmelfarb writes, but has substituted for them the notion of values-preferences that are relative and subjective. One result is a welfare system that delivers services to the poor but dares not address their deeper moral or spiritual needs. "We have so completely rejected any kind of moral principle," Himmelfarb writes, "that we have deliberately, systematically divorced poor relief from moral sanctions and incentives." The discrepancy between Victorian virtues and modern values has produced vastly different outcomes. As it entered the 19th century, England was caught in the teeth of industrialism, capitalism, secularism-features of modernity responsible for the social upheaval America is now experiencing. But the Victorian ethos was grounded in the Christian traditions of Evangelicalism and Methodism, along with their secular counterpart, Utilitarianism. The result? "At the end of the 19th century," she writes, "England was a more civil, more pacific, more humane society than it had been at the beginning." Two social indicators: Between 1845 and 1900, illegitimate births in England fell from 7 percent of all births in 1845 to less than 4 percent by 1900, while the rate of serious crime declined by almost 50 percent.

The Economics of Trust
Trust: The Social Virtues & The Creation of Prosperity by Francis Fukuyama (The Free Press)
Fukuyama argues that America's greatness comes from a spirit of individual liberty balanced by "a rich network of voluntary associations and community structures to which individuals have subordinated their narrow interests." America in the past was as group-oriented as Japan and Germany, Fukuyama writes, and this trait accounts for the dominance of these countries in the international marketplace. Only societies with a high degree of social trust can create the flexible, large-scale business organizations needed for successful competition in the global economy. The crucial difference between America and the two other nations is that social cooperation here was not enforced through emperors or kaisers. In America, strong community emerged in the absence of a strong state. America's economic future is now endangered by the rapid depletion of its social capital. Fukuyama argues that the dominance of rights-based liberalism, the rise of violent crime and civil litigation, the collapse of the family, the decline of neighborhoods, churches, unions, and charities, and the breakdown of shared values are destroying Americans' ability to cooperate with each other. It is no accident, he suggests, that those ethnic groups with the highest degree of internal trust are economically the most successful. He cites the importance of Asian-American rotating credit associations that count on family members and business associates to honor their debts. The author explores "the paradox of family values": While families in America are "too weak to perform their basic task of socialization," in some societies families "are too strong to permit the formation of modern economic organizations." In Chinese, Italian, and French societies, Fukuyama suggests, family members trust each other completely. But intense distrust of outsiders precludes civic or political life outside the family, and nearly all economic organizations are family-based. Most giant corporations are government-run, because unrelated people don't trust each other enough to work together.

Building Blocks
Building a Community of Citizens: Civil Society in the 21st Century Don E. Eberly, ed. (University Press of America)
The 23 essays that make up Building a Community of Citizens: Civil Society in the 21st Century explore the condition of America's civic life and endeavor to identify the ideas and policies required for social renewal as America moves into the next century. The work seeks to define the unique American "creed" that will inform this renewal: "If Americans are to build a community of citizens," Don Eberly argues, "they will have to do so within, not outside of, the American philosophical tradition." Many of the contributors see that tradition in the ideas of the American founding, including justice and limited government as well as equal opportunity and responsible freedom. These ideas remain, as Heather Higgins puts it, the "cultural building blocks" of America's future. Edward Schwartz (among others) would include Tocqueville's concept of civil society and mediating institutions. In the political sphere, "governmentalism" must be replaced by active citizenship and revitalized political institutions. The political party, according to Colleen Sheehan, was supposed to be "the most encompassing and decisive expression of our common republican opinion and civic character." In the cultural sphere, relativism must be replaced by strong families, personal morality, and religious faith. Unless America "respects and protects" the relationship between religion and public life, writes Os Guinness, "both American religious liberty and public discourse will he handicapped."

Small is Beautiful
Loving Your Neighbor: A Principled Guide to Personal Charity Marvin Olasky, ed. (Capital Research Center)
Culled from Philanthropy, Culture and Society, the 12 practical essays in this book illustrate the virtues and pitfalls of personal charity. The book's premise is that government welfare and the "upstairs" philanthropy of wealthy foundations fail because they aim to meet only the physical needs of the poor. Through factual reporting, the writers show small-scale, "downstairs" charities that do more good by urging the needy to change their conduct and attitudes. As the title implies, the book also emphasizes the centrality of religion in transforming lives. But even small, religious charities can forget some of the "basics of successful philanthropy: think small, and think of souls rather than bodies." Some charities err in relying on one charismatic leader; others imperil their religious character by accepting government or foundation funding with strings attached. The writers draw key lessons from successful programs as well as from those that have gone awry. Gerry Wisz investigates one New York soup kitchen's evolution from merely offering meals to the homeless to encouraging personal responsibility. Frederica Mathewes-Green shows how volunteer-run pregnancy care centers in Maryland enable low-income women to bring their babies to term by offering them shelter, clothing, and comfort. Marvin Olasky examines a Texas charity that sacrificed its success by purging its spiritual qualities to secure government funding. Dan McMurry recounts how competition for grants among charities in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, led them to create a pauper class to justify their existence. Olasky concludes that "poverty-fighters should commit themselves to helping only those . . . who are willing to work hard and change their life-styles." Capital Research Center -- tel: 202-393-2600, fax: 202-393-2626.

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Articles & Papers

Foundation Fossils
" Philanthropical Correctness" by David Samuels The New Republic, Sept. 18 & 25, 1995
Although their assets have tripled in the last 25 years, Samuels contends that America's philanthropic foundations have become irrelevant to public policy. The foundations that once funded the discovery of the polio vaccine and the expansion of our public library system cannot boast such lofty achievements today. Samuels cites four reasons. First, rather than fund programs that offer practical solutions to failures in education, welfare, and crimefighting, these foundations fund multicultural programs designed to promote "diversity" and "tolerance." Second, these foundations give more money to liberal advocacy groups like the Children's Defense Fund than they give to university research. Third, foundations no longer subject grantees to independent scholarly review but rely on foundation bureaucrats with little policy expertise. Finally, these foundations suffer from inbreeding and parochialism. Nearly 40 percent of foundation CEOs are hired from within the nonprofit sector, 30 percent from within their own foundations. The result: chronic myopia. Obsessed with multicultural concerns and hamstrung by stale thinking, our leading foundations pay little attention to our society's most pressing issues.The New Republic -- tel: 202-331-7494, Web site: http://www.enews.com/magazines/tnr/, e-mail: tnr@aol.com.

Wilsonian Liberals
"Liberalism's Lost Tradition" by Fred Siegel & Will Marshall The New Democrat, Sept./Oct. 1995
Writing in the Democratic Leadership Council's house magazine, Fred Siegel and Will Marshall assure Democrats fearful of obsolescence that one tradition within liberalism might accord with America's repudiation of New Deal statism. Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" liberalism took aim at the concentration of power in turn-of-the-century corporate America by curbing trusts. Siegel and Marshall suggest that today's Democrats should direct this ideological animus toward our centralized federal government. During the 1912 presidential contest between Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, they note, Roosevelt was supported by both corporate moguls and social workers. These odd bedfellows were united in a "common condescension" for the common man. Wilson criticized paternalism, argued against social planning by either corporate monopolies or by a large, interventionist federal government, and championed individual and economic liberty. Siegel and Marshall urge today's Democrats to tap into this lost "anti-statist but radically democratic" tradition by breaking the federal government's monopoly over public decisionmaking and resources. Democratic Leadership Council -- tel: 202-546-0007, fax: 202-544-5002.

Drafted Volunteers
"Charity Begins at School" by Chester E. Finn Jr. & Gregg Vanourek Commentary, Oct. 1995
Government by the people or people by the government? Hudson Institute Scholars Finn and Vanourek assess mandatory community service in our schools. Finn and Vanourek oppose "compulsory-service learning" because it confuses political action with community service and hence promotes projects with an ideological cast. In Cecil County, Maryland, students earned credit for lobbying the county government to maintain its recycling program. Furthermore, mandated volunteer service is itself an oxymoron that obscures the virtue of true voluntarism. And who's to say which student projects meet service requirements? In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a high-school student was denied her diploma because the time she spent volunteering in a nursing home and for Meals on Wheels was not school-directed service. Finally, the authors claim that mandatory service threatens church-based and private-sector volunteer work. In the near-term, mandatory service monopolizes the time children might otherwise devote to private-sector charity, and it discourages private-sector voluntarism in the long-run by teaching children that voluntarism is no more fulfilling than writing lab reports and meeting paper deadlines. Commentary -- tel: 212-751-4400, fax: 212-751-1174.

Vo-Tech Strikes Out
"The President's Apprentices" by Jonathan Marshall Reason, March 1995
Faced with declining wages for high-school graduates, the Clinton administration has embraced school-to-work programs. But Marshall argues that students put through the paces of vocational training are no better off in the long-term than students who go the strictly academic route. A recent National Assessment of Vocational Education study reports that graduates of vocational education in California are employed at the same rates and earn about as much as general track graduates. In fact, according to a Labor Department report released last year, many male graduates of vocational education actually earn less than those who have graduated from traditional high school programs. The central difficulty seems to be that graduates of vocational education often do not obtain jobs that match their training. In Germany, where most trained bakers work for Ford Motor Company, only half of German apprenticeship graduates work in the fields in which they were trained. Consequently, some studies show that students might do better to delay career choices until they gain more work experience and until they can better direct their career training. The bottom line: Inefficient, vocational education provides no quick fix to the falling wages of low-income Americans. Reason Foundation -- tel: 310-391-2245, fax: 310-391-4395.

Land of Opportunity
"Why Koreans Succeed" by Heather Mac Donald City Journal, Spring 1995
Mac Donald assures us that the American dream is alive and epitomized by Korean-American grocers in New York. Their success, she argues, is fueled by the same factors that have enabled other immigrant groups to succeed: hard work, an emphasis on education, and strong community ties. Some of these factors manifest themselves in distinctly Korean ways. Korean communities form gaes, or communal savings pools, to provide interest-free loans to budding businessmen. And many Korean children boost their academic achievement by attending a hagwon or "prep school" after school and on weekends. But Mac Donald warns that America has grown economically and culturally hostile towards Korean entrepreneurship. New York City requires grocers to pay 14 different taxes and obtain numerous licenses; Koreans also endure race-based boycotts and racial crimes. Consequently, Korean immigration has slowed to a trickle and some are returning home. Urban America will suffer if Korean entrepreneurship is stifled. By introducing stable and successful businesses to low-income neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles, Koreans have spearheaded urban renewal. Many Koreans are still committed to building successful businesses here. Will we let them? Manhattan Institute -- tel: 212-599-7000, fax: 212-599-3494.

Hired Off the Streets
"From Underclass to Working Class" by James L. Payne The American Enterprise, Sept./Oct. 1995
The Dallas branch of the Industrial Labor Service Corp. (ILS) proves that the invisible hand can be a helping hand. ILS, Payne reports, is the largest employer of temporary laborers in Dallas. It hires from among Dallas's down-and-out. ILS pays these workers $4.70 an hour but charges companies $7.50 an hour for their services. ILS uses the difference to provide its workers with lodging, breakfast and lunch, transportation, and tools, and it makes a profit of 17 cents an hour per worker. Unlike most private charities touted by conservatives, ILS is primarily profit-driven. It does not demand its "clients" change personal habits and attitudes as many faith-based charities do. But, Payne reports, laborers find ILS benevolent (it provides lunch out of generosity, not a desire to raise productivity). And they also learn the lesson of exchange-you have to give something to receive something-that many charities try to instill by demanding behavioral or spiritual change in exchange for material aid. Payne warns that "working halls" like ILS are threatened by the news media and the government, which accuse them of exploitation. American Enterprise Institute -- tel: 202-862-5800, fax: 202-862-7178, E-mail: 75272.1226@compuserve.com.

Black Christian Schools
"The New Exodus" by Joe Maxwell World, April 15, 1995
In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for the integration of public schools. Many black families abandoned Christian schools in favor of integrated public education. Forty years later, Maxwell reports, blacks are returning. Nearly 10 percent of African-American children from kindergarten to fifth grade attend private schools, up from 3.8 percent in 1968. Maxwell argues that black parents appreciate the discipline and the unambiguous moral education their children receive at these schools. They are happy that their children are required to wear uniforms, that the school environment they send their children to is drug-, gang-, and violence-free, and that prayer is an essential component of their children's school day. The revival of black Christian academies is hardly the result of separatist sentiment. Their main agenda is providing excellent Christian education. The rise of such schools is an indictment of poor public education. In the words of one supporter, "How many more generations of black children's education are we going to allow to be destroyed . . . by an incompetent, costly, self-serving government education establishment?" World -- tel: 704-253-8063.

Mormon Charity
" Work, Not Welfare in the Mormon Church" by Ralph Hardy The American Enterprise, Sept./Oct. 1995
Sixty years ago, at the dawn of the welfare state and its "culture of dependence," the Mormon Church built its own welfare program on the principle of individual responsibility. At the center of this system lies the "bishops' storehouse." Akin to a discount retailer like Price Club, it warehouses foodstuffs and other essentials. At times throughout the year, Mormons volunteer their labor on farms that supply the storehouse. Mormons also fast on the first Sunday of every month, and the money that would have been spent on skipped meals is used to purchase items for the storehouse. When a Mormon bishop determines that a truly needy individual or family has no other means of support, such as relatives in another state, he may offer food and supplies from the church's storehouse. In exchange, recipients are usually required to perform some service for the church community and to search for employment, with the church's help. Hardy argues that his church's system is one antidote to the maladies of our current welfare system.American Enterprise Institute -- tel: 202-862-5800, fax: 202-862-7178, e-mail: 75272.1226@compuserve.com.

Future Businessmen
"New Kids on the Block: The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship" by Martin Morse Wooster Philosophy, Culture and Society, June 1995
After being mugged on a Bronx street in 1981, businessman Steve Mariotti wondered why bright inner-city kids would risk their futures for the paltry $10 they stole from him. Mariotti wanted to help at-risk children learn how to calculate risk and reward for legitimate ends. Because schools often do not give students the practical skills and work habits that lead to success in business, Mariotti established the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) in 1986. Today, NFTE operates in nine urban centers, including New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. Its budget has grown from $600,000 in 1991 to $5.5 million today, thanks to charitable contributions from foundations and other sources. And what does this money buy? Student entrepreneurs are given business cards, a $10 bank account, $50 for start-up costs, and the opportunity to read the Wall Street Journal once a week. With this start, students build their own small businesses and learn about profit, loss, finance, marketing, negotiation, and customer service. Greg Blair sells trading cards. Regina Jackson markets the jewelry she makes. Low-income minority students are the target of this program. In Washington, D.C., nearly all of the approximately 250 students who participate in NFTE are low-income African Americans. Consequently, the textbooks used in NFTE classes, one of which is co-authored by Mariotti, profile the entrepreneurial successes of formerly disadvantaged minorities. Wooster's reporting is choc-full of heart-warming anecdotes garnered from his visits to NFTE programs in D.C. schools. He concludes that NFTE fills a valuable niche: It is the one program that actually shows inner-city youth a path to success different from one littered with violence and despair. Capital Research Center -- tel: 202-393-2600, fax: 202-393-2626.

Welfare as We Will Know It
"Ending the Welfare State, Pts. I and II" Alternatives in Philanthropy, April & May 1995
In this two-part series, 14 leading conservatives propose alternatives to the welfare state. David Forte wants to bolster private charities by offering taxpayers a 110 percent tax deduction for charitable contributions. William Tucker thinks that for every hour a person spends doing volunteer work, he or she should be rewarded with a tax credit equal to his or her regular earned income per hour. Charles D. Hobbs suggests making working more profitable than welfare by subsidizing private-sector employment for welfare recipients. George Liebmann argues that we should model day care in the U.S. after the British, who rely heavily on parent-organized and volunteer-run cooperative playgroups. Michael Tanner urges that adoption be eased by lifting restrictions on transracial adoption, terminating the custodial rights of biological parents whose children have been in foster care for a year, and by ending funding formulas that encourage states to keep as many children as possible in the foster care system. Michael Novak argues that teen moms should be blocked from setting up independent households, while Elizabeth Fox-Genovese advocates placing them and their children in maternity homes. The proposals assume that, absent welfare, the private-sector holds the answers to our social problems. Capital Research Center -- tel: 202-393-2600, fax: 202-393-2626.

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News & Events

Alumni Activists
Citizens concerned about the recent intellectual and moral shortcomings of academe will want to know about the National Alumni Forum, founded last year by a group of scholars, editors, businessmen, and policymakers led by chairman Lynne Cheney. The group enlists university alumni to defend academic freedom on college campuses. The group hopes to spur concerned alumni to exert more influence over university policies; it publishes information via a newsletter, an electronic network, and research reports. It also helps alumni oppose speech codes and highlights programs at various universities that are worthy of alumni support. National Alumni Forum -- tel: 202-467-6787, fax: 202-467-6784, e-mail: 76544.1367@compuserve.com, Web site: http://www.wdcnet.com/National_Alumni_Forum/NafHome.html

Carrying the Torch
The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games recently sponsored a nationwide search for "community heroes" to carry the torch in this summer's Torch Relay. About 5,500 honorees will carry the torch. A hero, as defined by the sponsors, is "a person who through his/her selfless acts or achievements has positively influenced their community, functioning as a role model for others." Winners will be announced in February.

Move Over, Roger Ebert
The U.S. Catholic Conference now offers a toll-free movie-review service that rates films by moral content and artistic merit. Brief reviews accompany ratings, which range from "A-1" (general audiences) to "O" (morally objectionable). It lauds Martin Scorsese for his direction in Casino but rates the movie "O" for its "graphic violence, fleeting nudity, substance abuse, and incessant rough language." U.S. Catholic Conference - tel: 1-800-311-4CCC.

Movieguide Hotline promises reviews "from a Biblical perspective." Operated by the nondenominational Christian nonprofit Good News Communications, it rates movies for quality and moral acceptability. While Seven receives three of four possible stars for artistic merit, it is deemed morally unacceptable for its "virulent religious bigotry." Movieguide does differ from its Catholic counterpart; you are charged $1.49 per-minute.Movieguide Hotline - tel: 1-900-234-2344.

Submissions Welcome
Town Square is intended as an interactive resource for our readers. Policy Review welcomes suggestions for publications, events, and news for inclusion. Contact: Policy Review, 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002. Tel: 202-546-4400 Fax: 202-608-6136. E-mail: polrev@hoover.stanford.edu

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Pope John Paul II on Democracy

Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community. The basic question before a democratic society is: "How ought we live together?" In seeking an answer to this question, can society exclude moral truth and moral reasoning? Can the Biblical wisdom that played such a formative part in the very founding of your country be excluded from the debate? Would not doing so mean that America's founding documents no longer have any defining content, but are only the formal dressing of changing opinion? Would not doing so mean that tens of millions of Americans could no longer offer the contribution of their deepest convictions to the formation of public policy? Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. -- Baltimore, Md., Oct. 8, 1995

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Sen. Bill Bradley on Civil Society
What both Democrats and Republicans fail to see is that the government and the market are not enough to make a civilization. There must also be a healthy, robust civic sector-a space in which the bonds of community can flourish. Government and the market are similar to two legs on a three-legged stool. Without the third leg of civil society, the stool is not stable and cannot provide support for a vital America. . . . We also have to give the distinctive moral language of civil society a more permanent place in our public conversation. The language of the marketplace says, "Get as much as you can for yourself." The language of government says, "Legislate for others what is good for them." But the language of community, family and citizenship at its core is about receiving undeserved gifts. What this nation needs to promote is the spirit of giving something freely, without measuring it out precisely or demanding something in return. -- speech, National Press Club, Feb. 9, 1995

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Recent Stories in Policy Review

Summer 1995
Sam Beard on Social Security reform that would enable minimum-wage earners to become millionaires by retirement. Conna Craig on combating the bureaucratic obstacles that prevent foster-care children from finding adoptive homes. Stephen Glass on a privatized school-lunch program in Rhode Island that feeds children more nutritious food at less cost. Charlene K. Haar on why parents can't count on their PTA to support school reform. Tucker Carlson on private cops.

Spring 1995
Charles Condon on his program to reduce births of crack-addicted babies in South Carolina, now thwarted by the Clinton administration. George Allen on Virginia's bold crime-fighting strategies, which include abolishing parole. Stephen Glass on the DeVry Institute of Technology, a profit-making technical college that succeeds where government job-training programs fail.

Winter 1995
A symposium of welfare experts on how private charities, adoption agencies, and churches will replace the government in helping our most disadvantaged children. Charles Augustus Ballard on bringing fathers home to their children.

To order reprints, contact Brendan O'Scannlain at Policy Review. Tel: 202-546-4400. Fax: 202-608-6136. E-mail: polrev@hoover.stanford.edu

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