The Civitas Project–Mr. Arrington’s Opus

What These Volumes Are About

As outlined by Best Reads: There are four books in a continuing body of work about renewal of the principles and values of democracy, which the author labels “Civitas.” The two foundational books are: The American Adventure: Rediscovering Civitas for a Renewed Democracy, Vol. 1, and The Cosmopolitan Uprising: Rebuilding Civitas for a New America, Vol. 2.

The American Adventure explores in historical context a clash of two systems of ideas. These are labelled “civitas” and “tribalism.” Positive change of the nation’s direction demands rediscovery and practice of the ideas of civitas, which rest on the principles and values of democracy. These governance and moral principles arise in world history from philosophy and the world’s great religions. Called for is a renewed political theology that brings the best of the past into the present on behalf of the future.

The Cosmopolitan Uprising brings to life ideas explored in the first book, using case examples taken from the bellwether state of Florida as well as observations about national and global conditions. Called for is a Cosmopolitan Uprising, which is the nation’s best chance for re-building civitas.

These two foundational books argue in favor of regeneration of our mediating institutions—those forms of local community that reside between the individual and the state. These include the family, the faith community, education, private non-profit organizations dedicated to the public good, and local governments.

Make a Home for Each Other: A Manifesto of Civitas, is a succinct statement of the entire body of work. Readers who want an overview of the author’s main ideas may begin with this book.

The At-Home Advantage: Recovering Our Communities of Memory summaries the more voluminous first two books. The American Adventure now needs a Cosmopolitan Uprising driven via the expansion of stronger powers of local, self-determination or home rule protected from preemption or erosion by political elites. Governing authority at regional and local levels is under assault by ideologues at higher levels of government whose agendas are threatened by local communities governing on their home ground in common cause for their common good. This book concentrates on the using the powers of local, home rule to strengthen the practice of American democracy. This book contains excerpts of the other works, as well as original material.

What Others Are Saying

This combined work is well-described by Paul Croce, Stetson University Professor of American history, and Chair of Stetson’s American Studies Program: “This work is a shout out for renewal of American democracy. It takes its stand for an ordered-liberty and faith-rooted third way beyond Left-Right divides. And its treasure trove of thoughtful insights and rich quotations shows a depth of learning. “It is delightful to witness a practitioner so immersed in theory, and that makes for a distinctive in mingling theory and practice. This work offers a great platform for what pragmatists call practical idealism.”

Lawrence Martin, Professor, Doctoral Program in Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, writes: “The American Adventure is a tour de force! It’s like reading a crash course in the great books of the Western World with applications to politics and government in the US.”

Nick Maddox, a Professor of Management (Ret.) at the Stetson University School of Business says, “In erudite and often complex ways, Arrington is building a vision of what a decent society and an abundant future might entail for us. He does a superb job of framing the social, philosophical and values dynamics that have led to the predicaments we face. He suggests reasonable and smart ways for us to move forward from the tribalism, despair, desperation and learned helplessness that creates the mental gridlock defining these times we inhabit.”

From “The American Adventure”

“We are facing tremendous challenges brought about by disruption of our economic, natural, and social systems. During the present age, technology and globalization decimate jobs. The nation’s social fabric is torn asunder. Identity politics cause social and political fracture, and unleash nativist populism pitted against global cosmopolitanism. As the domestic political systems of the world’s great nation-states go into varying states of dysfunction, the post-World War II order is rejected as the way to keep peace. Global warming and loss of biodiversity cause planetary environmental devastation.“

“The US political system and other institutions of society, including the religious sphere, are not responding well to these challenges. The mediating institutions between the individual and the state are hollowed out by these global pathogens, rendering our political system dysfunctional. All the big things that were once taken for granted are now under assault: globalization, capitalism, adherence to the Constitution, the American-led global order…The central challenge today is not how to celebrate difference…The central challenge is to rebind a functioning polity and to modernize a binding American idea.”

“The United States is dire need of a ‘new birth of freedom,’ the term Lincoln used. The core moral problem is at the level of the individual citizen. Reform of the nation’s institutions alone is not enough. American society is constituted in such a way that the individual is a “sovereign” responsible for exercising free will in ways that serve the common good. Large numbers of contemporary Americans have forgotten that liberty is conditioned on this commitment to work in common cause for the common good; that citizens are free to agree or to disagree with the collective decisions of the nation, but their individual freedom is not unfettered from responsibility to the public interest. The nation’s major institutions cannot produce goodness and sustainability unless individual citizens are willing to sacrifice purely selfish material interests in favor of the common good as a matter of duty. The United States was purposed and constituted to be a nation capable of evolving human nature and advancing the prospects of human destiny. We are not meant to be merely a transactional people advancing selfish interests at home and abroad at the expense of others and to the detriment of the biosphere we inhabit.”

Lawrence Arrington/The American Adventure: Rediscovering Civitas for a Renewed Democracy

I became acquainted with Lawrence, (Larry), when we were both columnists for the American Society for Public Administration’s PA Times. That was back in early 2018, just a few months after he published his four volume “Opus.” There are very few government, especially local government, practitioners that I have met that think in such macro terms. His foundational thoughts of what constitutes good governance was based upon his understanding of theory and practice. He introduced the notions of faith and our individual and collective moral and democratic responsibility to each other and the planet. He was not preaching from the pulpit. He was not inserting specific religious canons nor liturgy. Though interlaced with the merging of governance and faith, his approach was one of reminding each of us our moral civic duty, our “Civitas.”

Back in 2019, he and I began to discuss a collaboration. As both retired local government executives, we shared common understandings in theory and practice. Between health issues and life changes for both of us, Larry prematurely passed before we were able to form our next approach. We shared common attitudes and observations as to the shortcomings of many local government officials functioning as “Technocrats,” all the time not understanding their primary responsibility of meeting the civic needs of the very population they serve.

The impetus for Larry to put pen to paper was the introduction of tribalistic Trumpism. His urgency to write came from the outcomes of Trump 1. He did not live to witness, in real time, Trump 2. I have to give it much thought as to whether I have the time, energy, and comprehensive knowledge to carry forward the next effort. The bar is high. Larry provided me the impetus to work beyond the narrow confines and limitations of traditional public administration education. It’s alright to discuss faith and morality in terms of governance without introducing a particular ideology. After all, the founders were all men of differing beliefs but were well aware of the danger of canonizing their own individual religious convictions into the Constitution. At the very least, Larry’s Opus certainly forms the basis for a future lecture series.

Stephen G. Harding

The Tragedy of Public Management

Beyond Technocracy — Civics, Culture and Public Service