FROM THE ARCHIVES
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Re: Civil society
[Rod Dreher 03/29 03:31 PM]Rebecca writes: I wanted to respond quickly to your friend Mike regarding being active in the community. I think that a huge part of what is simultaneously driving much of the "doom and gloom" and the small scale community involvement which comes with being a "crunchy con" is that we have lost faith in much of what has been thought of as civil society. Our schools, our political parties, county boards, chambers of commerce and many of the other avenues by which we've often been encouraged to "get out there" are so corrupted that fighting them or even expecting anything good out of them seems to be a lost cause. So yes, we're active, but we're not doing it within organizations which are often looked upon as being essential to a civil society. I think it's the reality of the failure of the basic structures of our civil society on top of the disintegration of our cultural/moral framework which is driving many people to simply withdraw and seek out places where we really can influence our worlds. So we homeschool because we cannot change the school system, we support crisis pregnancy centers because we can't influence the laws or change the larger culture which is driving the problem, we join garden clubs because we can't stop the county board from paving everything over and so-on and so-forth. I think part of what makes a crunchy con a crunchy con is that we don't buy into the idea that we can do much in the larger world of politics, education and culture. So we are retreating into smaller worlds where we can influence things for the better. Hopefully, in time, we can gain enough influence in these small areas that we'll start being able to influence some of the larger structures of society. In the meantime, I'm not holding my breath. That sounds a lot like what Donna Steichen told me about why she got involved in homeschooling. I quote her in the book as saying: “Back when I was raising my own children, homeschooling was considered an exotic necessity for diplomatic families on jungle postings. So I took the first route: I met teachers, baked brownies, judged speech contests, served as a classroom, lunchroom, playground, and library volunteer, held offices in home and school associations, etc., etc., etc. Later, as difficulties arose, I argued with teachers, confronted pastors, principals, and department heads – especially but not exclusively Religion Department heads – served on advisory committees, and eventually, more than once, engaged school boards in public combat. It was a strenuous and emotionally exhausting way of life. It was also futile.”
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