Where Does Big Mother Come From?
On February 01, 2001, Washington Post Staff Writer Dana Milbank published "Needed: Catchword for Bush Ideology, 'Communitarianism' Finds Favor:(17)
"The problem some Bush advisers and friends say, is that conventional political definitions do not adequately explain what the president is trying to do. His actions have less to do with the left vs. right, they say, than with his embrace of many of the ideas contained in the movement known as 'communitarianism,' which places the importance of society ahead of the unfettered rights of the individual.
"This is the ultimate Third Way," says Don Eberly, an advisor in the Bush White House, using a favorite phrase of President Bill Clinton, who also sought, largely unsuccessfully, to redefine the debate with an alternative to the liberal-conservative conflict."
Then Ms. Milbank gives us Robert Putnam's "definition" of what communitarianism is:
"Communitarianism," or "civil society" thinking (the two have similar meanings) has many interpretations, but at it's center is a notion that years of celebrating individual freedom have weakened the bonds of community and that the rights of the individual must be balanced against the interests of society as a whole. Inherent in the philosophy is a return to values and morality, which, the school of thought believes, can best be fostered by community organizations. "We need to connect with one another. We've got to move a little more in the direction of community in the balance between community and the individual," said Robert D. Putnam of Harvard University, a leading communitarian thinker.(18)
Milbank lists twelve communitarian "thinkers" who advise George Bush Jr.,(19): "Bush's inaugural address," said George Washington University professor Amitai Etzioni, a communitarian thinker, "was a communitarian text, full of words like 'civility,' 'responsibility' and 'community.' That's no accident. Bush's advisers consulted on the speech with Putnam."
Milbank describes examples of Bush's communitarian-based programs, including Americorps, and again quotes Eberly:
“There's a specific mission, but there's a broader effort of social-sector renewal writ large," Eberly said, "This is about the incubation of democratic values and habits.”