ide a vigorous source ofemotional attachment that firmly roots wide masses of individuals within arich associational network. The incompleteness of civil societythat is,civil society's inability to motivate vast numbers of people to participateand be involved in public lifeis probably the peacetime norm which is sobemoaned recently by those charging that civil society is in decline. Ultimately, of course, choices have to be made about the fundamental valuesthat we expect any political order or set of institutions to provide. Inthis sense, Michael Walzer is likely right that, "The exact character of ourassociational life is something that has to be argued about, and it is in thecourse of these arguments that we also decide about the forms of democracy,the nature of work, the extent and effects of market inequalities, and muchelse."[16] I will not seek to offer any further or definitive answer hereregarding the problems and choices of civil society, other than to say thatwe are not likely to achieve both a commitment to individual rights andequality under the law while at the same time promoting deep emotionalattachments or patriotic identification. A choice likely has to be made, andI hope at least to have contributed to a reasonable starting point for makingthis choice and for further thought and reflection regarding the tensions,demands, and character of civic life.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[1] See, e.g., Alasdair MacIntyre, Is Patriotism a Virtue?: The LindleyLecture (Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1984); Charles Taylor,"Cross-Purposes: The Liberal-Communitarian Debate," in Nancy L.Rosenblum, ed., Liberalism and the Moral Life (Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press, 1989); Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982); Morris Janowitz, TheReconstruction of Patriotism: Education for a Civic Consciousness (Chicago:University ...
