Mending Fences: Renewing Justice Between Government and Civil Society

by Dan Coats (with responses by Glenn C. Loury, Mary Nelson, and Stanley Carlson-Thies)
Center for Public Justice and Baker Books (1998)
Paperback, 73 pages 
ISBN 0-8010-5830-9
 

Do a growing economy, high employment, and low interest rates indicate that the citizens of the United States are thriving? United States Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) applauds America's economic prosperity and the more limited role of government, but he is distressed by the moral crisis of the culture and the signs of a weakening "civil society."

There is a paradox inherent in the viewpoint of the American founders: In order to have political freedom, individuals must embody self-discipline and virture. It is the responsibility of parents, church leaders, and nonprofit service providers to train each generation in democratic habits and manners: reasoned reflection, self-mastery, public spirit, and respect for the rights of others.

Senator Coats addresses the need to strengthen the authority and economic well-being of those institutions that teach moral values. As author of the legislative package The Project for American Renewal, he argues that the government must use its authority to empower constructive actions in the nongovernmental sector.

Presented as the third annual Kuyper Lecture, Mending Fences includes responses from three distinguished social activists, who offer their suggestions for promoting justice and moral responsibility in America. They are Glenn C. Loury, professor of economics and director of the Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston University; Mary Nelson, founding president of Bethel New Life (Chicago); and Stanley Carlson-Thies, director of social policy studies, Center for Public Justice.