ABSTRACT
Communitarian liberals and social conservatives stress the importance of obligations as well as rights. "Virtual" communities and "virtual" corporations, where physical proximity is replaced by electronic "visits," are substituting for tangible community involvement and contact. Authority, responsibility, capacity—these are the cornerstones of sustainable communities. Hundreds of communities that have exhibited the kinds of values that Novak and Etzioni embrace have been unable to defend themselves from powerful external forces. Aside from responsibility, strong communities need sufficient authority to make the rules that can ensure their future. The concepts of personal responsibility, decentralized authority, and local productive capacity are not alien to Clinton administration. Governments often view communities as obstructionist, unwilling to accept even necessary development. The majority of the population supports community-team policing, home-based health care, community banks, neighborhood schools. For instance, the Carnegie Foundation found that of parents surveyed more than 80 percent favored neighborhood schools.
