The Destruction of Community Spirit

When Alexis De Tocqueville toured the United States in the early 19th century, he made poignant observations of the essence of community; particularly the townships of New England. He contrasted that with the peoples and governments of Europe:

In America, not only do institutions belong to the community but also they are kept alive and supported by a community spirit.

The New England township possesses two advantages which strongly arouse the interest of men, namely independence and authority. Its sphere of action is indeed restricted but, within that sphere, its movements are unlimited. This independence alone guarantees it real importance even though its populations and size would not warrant it.

It is best to realize that men’s affections, in general, come down on the side of authority. Patriotism does not long prevail in a conquered nation. The inhabitant of New England is devoted to his township, not because he was born there as much as because he views the township as a strong, free social body of which he is part and which merits the care he devotes to its management.

In Europe, governments often bewail the absence of this community spirit, for everyone agrees that it is an ingredient in public order and tranquility, even though they do not know how to create it. By making the township strong and independent, they are afraid they might disintegrate the social fabric and expose the state to the forces of anarchy. Once you remove the strength and independence of the township, you will reduce the citizens to administrative units.

Americans have a long history of personal philanthropy and community works that predates our founding. Benjamin Franklin helped establish the first free library, voluntary fire department, and hospital. Many charitable foundations have been established by other prominent citizens such as Ford, Kellogg, Carnegie, and Rockefeller to name a few.

The best and most effective organizations were founded by ordinary citizens. The famous Hull House was founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gales Starr and funded by private contributors.

During the American civil war citizens organized and raised funds to address the deplorable living conditions of their soldiers. George Templeton Strong, Henry Whitney Bellows, and Frederick Law Olmstead helped found the Sanitary Commission. They and their volunteers raised $5 million dollars and $15 million in donated supplies. They are responsible for saving the lives of thousands of soldiers.

The citizens of Massachusetts during the throes of the Great Depression raised money for the jobless by employing benefit concerts, ball games, and wrestling matches. They forsook federal relief. That was until they found out that states like Illinois seized huge amounts of money. Massachusetts wasn’t just taking care of its own citizens; they were taking care of others as well. They wouldn’t make the same mistake the second time around.

We in the United States are losing that sense of community spirit and are being reduced to administrative units in a far off capitol in Washington D.C. These political and intellectual “elites” want to turn our country into what our ancestors escaped from and that is a European model.

FDR’s New Deal was the germ that infected our body politic, and now our people are forsaking their independence and participation in their local community in the belief that the feds will take care of all their problems. We now look to D.C. for funding of our roads, public buildings, infrastructure and even bailing out of businesses. Everyone is looking for a handout instead of taking the bull by the horns themselves.

The Uncle Sam will take care of everything mentality has even pervaded charitable organizations. Instead of ordinary citizens volunteering their time, we now have professional community organizers. An example is AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps is a federal government program that ostensibly promotes community service, but does so at the expense of American taxpayers. As with any government program corruption, bribery, and waste are basic elements of any bureaucratic institution.

An example of corruption is Barack Obama’s firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Walpin was investigating prominent Obama supporter Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, California. Johnson founded a non-profit organization St. Hope. St. Hope received an AmeriCorps grant of $850,000. Johnson used a portion of these funds to promote school board political activities, run personal errands, and even to wash his car. When word reached Obama of this investigation, Inspector General Walpin was given one hour to resign or become fired.

Today, AmeriCorps has tripled in size and Obama is considering making VOLUNTEERING mandatory service. What is really disturbing is his vision of a national civilian corps that is just as powerful and well funded as the military. Does this not remind you of a certain socialist European country in the not to distant past?

If De Tocqueville were alive today and touring the United States, I wonder if he would have the same observations of community spirit that he had in the early 1800’s . I sadly doubt it.