Race, Religion and Economic Warfare
The other day, I was searching C-Span for a Congressional Hearing that was held in May of 1995. I didn’t find the hearing but I hit the mother lode of programs for Communitarianism. There was a conference titled Building Character with Amitai Etzioni, professor and leader of the Communitarian Network. Two of the speakers at the conference were William Bennett, former Reagan Administration official and President Bill Clinton. This connection to the political system is the first solid evidence (for me) that communitarianism may have actually jumped from a university philosophy class to be a factor in American government. One of the task forces of Clinton’s President’s Council on Sustainable Development was the Sustainable Communities task force.
A quick look for the definition of Communitarian revealed the following:
Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based on the belief that a person’s social identity and personality are largely molded by community relationships, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism.
. . . Communitarianism usually opposes extreme individualism and rejects extreme laissez-faire policies that deprioritize the stability of the overall community. Wikipedia
For my purposes, that’s all I need to know – reducing: Communists vs psychopathic Libertarians. What a choice. I was and continue to be a solid conservative rejecting both extremes but according to some of the speakers, traditional conservatives and liberals were going the way of dinosaurs. The following are links to some of the discussions:
October 30, 1991
A New Politics in the 1990s – Forum discussion sponsored by the Heritage Foundation (Stuart Butler) and the Progressive Foundation (Will Marshall who later founded the Progressive Policy Institute), David Osborne (Became Al Gore’s right hand man for the Reinvention of Government.)
June 29, 1993
Communitarian and Libertarian Views. Debate between Libertarian and Communitarian philosophies. David Boaz for Libertarians, Amitai Etzioni for Communitarians. Event sponsored by the World Future Society.
August 15, 1994
Individualist and Communitarian Perspectives – Panel Discussion, sponsored by Cato Institute, Amitai Etzioni and David Kelley, Institute for Objectivist Studies. David Boaz moderating.
May 13, 1995
Clinton, Urban Policy Report – Empowerment Agenda
White House Conference on Character Building
May 19, 1995
William Bennett and Amitai Etzioni. Bennett talked about how society can teach character building and morality <gag – no they can’t>. Amitai Etzioni followed William Bennett in this video but Etzioni’s remarks are also in a separate video. Empower America
May 19, 1995
Richard Riley. Public education can build character without infringing on students’ constitutional rights. (Note: the irony of the idea that the political system should become engaged in character building within the context of public education is stunning. There is no more corrupt organization in the world than the political system. This concept of the political system teaching morality and building character occurs at the same time political leaders are committing treason by integrating the economies of Canada, U.S. and Mexico with political integration for the North American Common Market planned for the future is hypocrisy at a galactic level.)
May 20, 1995
President Bill Clinton, Character Building for a Civil Society “President Clinton addressed communitarian leaders on the importance of their three concepts: opportunity, responsibility and community.”
October 12, 1995
Heritage Foundation, Report on the Contract with America
June 7, 1996
Character Building and Federal Leadership (The title defines irony)
Nancy L. Kassebaum (R-KS) speaks on health insurance (which turned out to be national health insurance dubbed Obama Care) reform. Senator Bill Bradley was scheduled to speak but was unable to make it. Amitai Etzioni spoke in his place.
June 7, 1996
Senator Paul Simon – making television more educational.
June 7, 1996
Alan Simpson
June 7, 1996
Joe Lieberman – The Values Crisis (Note: Joe Lieberman was on the Advisory Board for the Alliance for Redesigning Government – National Academy of Public Administration).
Communitarian War – Religious War without Religion
Biographies of Amitai Etzioni
Biography on Communitarian Network website
Papers by Amitai Etzioni
Dialectics of Supranational Organization – Etzioni, 1962 (Retyped version for readability)
(JFK signed the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 – Marshall Plan for Latin America under the name: Alliance for Progress. First step towards a North American Union).
“three blocks would be recognized – “troika system” a Communist, a western and a Neutral One (unaligned countries – group of 77?) page 2 – see page 9, right column
Toward a Theory of Societal Guidance – macrosociology, 1967. 1967 was the year that the Congress began to hold hearings on U.S. Trade Policy. The Grand Design.
