Citizen Bill

In the battle of prime-time sound bites, Clinton was seemingly outdone by New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. In 10 minutes she delivered a sharp Republican rejoinder: less government, lower taxes. But in his own rambling way, Clinton touched on what may be the next grand theme of politics: not reinventing government but reinventing citizenship. We’ve heard all about an overbearing, discredited state. No one speaks for untrammeled, selfish individualism. It sounds like the ultimate do-gooder question, but what about community-minded citizenship? Whoever defines it – ennobles it – may catch the next wave.

Newt Gingrich – Mr. Third Wave himself – is already out there with his surfboard. Though ridiculed for his comments on orphanages, the speaker hasn’t backed off. By supplanting volunteerism, he says, government has robbed charity of the uplift it provides and the discipline it imposes. Gingrich is shrewdly arguing for a more systematic reliance on charity than theepisodic good works of George Bush’s “thousand points of light.” At a fundraising banquet last week, Gingrich instructed lobbyists to help troubled kidsin Washington, and he sported a “Habitat for Humanity” lapel pin at the State ofthe Union.

For Clinton’s speech, iconsof citizen service filled the House gallery: marriage-counseling ministers, new recruits in the AmeriCorps national-service program, a World War II hero. Echoing Gingrich, the president cited de Tocqueville on the importance of voluntary associations in America. He called for a nationwide volunteer crusade to curb the growth of teen pregnancy. And though Beltway pundits laughed athis meandering, please-everyone approach, the Newsweek Poll showed that most voters (52 percent) liked what they heard. Among those who said their opinion was affected by the speech, a 2-1 margin said they were more confident about Clinton’s leadership.

The president and the speaker are drawing from the same cadre of academicians and think tanks. The experts agree that if citizens were congressmen, we’d have to throw ourselves out of office for nonperformance. In the Newsweek Poll, 57 percent think most people would feel no shame if others knew they had cheated on their taxes. Nearly all Americans say jury duty is an important obligation, yet polls show that only half show up when summoned. Nearly all say voting is important, yet only 39 percent of eligible voters turned out last fall. Campaign ads and talk radio foster a nation of “political couch potatoes,” Clinton said.

But citizenship should be more than a matter of voting booths and jury boxes. The sense of service, enshrined in an era of world wars and near-universal military service, is gone, the experts say. The rise of the welfare state has done nothing to foster a sense of community. Paying taxes is a sacrifice, but hardly an uplifting exercise; receiving a government check – whether it’s for welfare or social security – does nothing for the nobility of citizenship either. “We’ve turned citizens into clients andconsumers,” says Don Eberly of the Commonwealth Foundation.

And yet citizen-consumers have trashed every alternative to their own involvement. Government, in disrepute at all levels, is pinched for cash. New taxes to bail it out are a hellishly tough sell. Politicians are despised, major institutions distrusted. “New media,” from talk shows to the Internet, make “direct democracy” real – and elected representatives less important.

Creating a “civil society” is a task that can escape partisanship, proponents insist. Sociologist Amitai Etzioni’s favorite example is in Seattle. Rather than having the city buy extra ambulances, a pioneering doctor years ago suggested that he and his colleagues train the citizenry in CPR. Today some 400,000 residents are certified. The program works well and saves lives. “The city saves money, people feel proud and involved,” says Etzioni, “and if you have to have a heart attack, Seattle is the place to do it.”

But that’s Washington state. In Washington, D.C., politicians in both parties are deeply suspicious of each other’s motives. Many Democrats, especially in Congress, see the talk of volunteerism as an excuse for cutting taxes and abandoning commitments to the elderly, the poor and the disabled. They worry that reliance on charity could lead to a larger – and intrusive – role for conservative religious institutions.

Republicans worry about what role, if any, the government should play. In the name of fostering citizenship, some GOP strategists say, the Democrats will try to justify a host of new spending programs. Education grants, job training, even welfare can be sold that way, warns GOP strategist William Kristol. The Clinton administration is expected to seek at least another $500 million for AmeriCorps in the next budget. But AmeriCorps, in Kristol’s view, is a dangerous exercise in “paid volunteerism” that corrupts the real thing.

It’s still up to politicians to explain why government isn’t as important as its citizens. It’s hard for either Clinton or Gingrich to do so convincingly. The president is handicapped by the old-line members of his own party – and by his reluctance to talk turkey about sacrifice. The speaker’s role may be too divisive – and his own nature too combative – for him to speak credibly about “civil society.”

As the next presidential campaign begins, which GOP contender might carry the message? Bob Dole’s war record is a story of sacrifice, but he doesn’t exude a generosity of spirit. Dan Quayle will run on a theme of family values, but he has a coddled image to shake. Lamar Alexander’s chosen metaphor is “neighborhoods,” but he seems too calculated to some observers. Another potential candidate said to be studying the new literature of citizenship is Colin Powell. He served his country but spent his entire career in the government’s biggest bureaucracy, the army. At least he’s a novice: in other words, merely a citizen.

52% agree with what Clinton had to say in his State of the Union Message

25% said it made them more confident in Clinton as a leader

11% said it made them less confident in Clinton as a leader