A really beautiful sentiment from Marvin Olansky

Marvin Olansky, I have to say, is a conservative very much after my own heart. And he has a really beautiful piece I read on Townhall.com, today, that very much exemplifies why I am so endeared to his thinking and his work.

How Some Conservatives Hurt Conservativism

Marvin's view of government and self-sacrafice and helping others is very similar to mine. It is the ideas of folks like Marvin which are the strongest among conservative ideas to take on various social ills, especially poverty. It is a stronger model, long term, I think, than is Big Government approaches to dealing with wealth inequities on so many levels.

It is closer to home and to the people it is helping. It is far more likely to encourage voluntary giving from a very robust economy where people will give if they have institutions they think are worthy of the giving (When was the last time you heard the Red Cross or the United Way complain it couldn't pay it's bills? When was the last time you heard a public school make that complaint?) It is a more sustainable model for individual and community improvement since it is predicated on capacity built and not just demands made. It is a more diverse route that allows people who disagree with one another to create institutions that don't necessarily have to look the same or carry the same philosophies. It avoids the "One size Big Government fits all" mess that public schools find themselves in and the various federal mandates, state regulation, and district control that now severely limit their autonomy and thus their ability and willingness to take responsibility for their failures and take real credit for genuine successes, and to have the freedom to make decisions of conscience around what choices will best improve situations (the mindless repeat of the refrain to "force out" all problems is just one of the many very troubling mantras that undermine our ability to think through and arrive at diverse approaches to resolve difficult problems in schools and non-profits and community groups). It involves more responsibility both on the part of those building and manning community institutions and those being served by them, rather than the very easy and less responsible route of advocacy and demands with little accountability to the actual successes and failures in institutions.

And, best of all, ideally, it removes much of the politics that currently plagues public school and social service efforts that are constantly being leveraged by whatever political action and pressure group that has something that it wants, noble or not. In reality, non-profit groups will be subject to pressure from government and activist groups and those they serve and just about anyone who wants to apply the pressure. That's the beauty about pressure groups. You don't really need to be right to pressure to get what you want. Just willing to make peoples' lives uncomfortable enough that you can get your way.

For some people, that is progress, I suppose. Makes you thank goodness for progress, don't it?

Marvin Olansky reminds me that there are people in the world who have genuinely robust ideas of what a better world might look like and they don't necessarily involve putting the screws to your neighbor.

Would if only there were more Marvin Olansky's in the world.

Love,
Ben