Page 6 RAIN July 1981 . . ) • Reagan-style Federalism: State and local governments are more efficient and equitable in the distribution of public funds and services than the federal government. Trickle-down Theory: Private sector initiatives can replace government in a number of roles. Social needs, not only economic . growth (profits), will be met through a major shift in resources to the private (corporate) sector. , Capitalizing on the post-election honeymoon period and the general discontent with government, Reagan interpreted his mandate as one of cutting back on federal involvement in meeting human. needs. ·Its clear the budget reductions will fall disproportionately .on the low-income. This brutally hones! agenda ensures that the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. In response to public outcries that the so-called"safety net" for the "truly needy" is insufficient, Reagan simply repeats his formula about how the inflation rate will drop and the economy will boom, and then everyone will be better off. It will only hurt in the short term. Cutting Through·the Rhetoric Bruce Stokes, in his timely new book, Helping Ourselves: Local Solutions to Global Problems, presents a strong case remin~ing us of perhaps the only viable alternative to the "Voodoo Reaganomics"..;_community self-reliance. It is clear-Ly time for a change. Just like a stream that carves a new channel if the old one is blocked, societies need to circumvent existing institutions that have proved ineffective. A new approach to problem solving'and a new set of values are needed in this era of energy shortages and stagnating economies. Self-help efforts, in . which individuals_and communities take greater control over the issues that affect their lives, constitute a more effective way of dealing with. many of today's problems. By breaking up issues into their component parts and dealing with them at the local level, interdependent problems can once again become.manageable. Stokes' synthesis of both obstacles and opportunities to community self-help approaches provides us with an excellent framework to analyze the Administration's decentra}ist rhetoric, identify the gaps, absurdities and loopholes and perhaps even "Out-Reagan" Reagan. For example, the book's major premise is that self-help activities "present a unique opportunity for the traditional conser- _vative virtues of individual initiative and-strong community organizations to form the basis of a progressive movement to mold more self-reliant and democratic societies." ( emphasis added) During the campaign, Candidate Reagan spoke of the need for an "American Renewal," evidently based on nee-populist themes such as civic pride, individual initiative, local control and volunteerism. Reagan stated: "The neighborhood scale is a human scale-a place where the real spirit of the community can develop. What America's neighborhoods need is not a massive delivery of service from government, but a massive rebirth of opportunity." (After reading that you almost wonder if Reagan is a closet RAIN reader!) The point is that the President's budget slashing contradicts his attack ori welfare and preference for local control. The proposed cuts run deep into many programs with a local "opportunity" focus, e.g., sharp reductions or elimination of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank, Legal Services Corp., Neighborhood Self Help Development Fund, Community Services Administration, etc. In total, several billion will be slashed from these "opportunity" programs designed to facilitate self-determination in depressed areas and among lower income people. Stokes again helps us see clea~ly. A sense of control over the issues that affect people's daily lives is a topic of growing political importance in the United States and other countries. Conservatives argue that this requires a limit on the role ofbig government, while liberals attest to the necessity of curtailing big business. But in the past these remedies have often resulted in nothing more than a reshuffling of power between the state and corporations. If individuals and communitie,s are to gain The Administration would like us to -~elieve that community groups willmagically be able to work with local governments and the private sector to solve social problems. greater control over their lives, then they must do so by empowering themselves. Stokes is not alone, of course, in focusing on citizen empowerment as the central philosophical issue. A few years ago, the American Enterprise_Institute, a conservative think tank, conducted a well-received policy study, To Empower People. They concluded that "mediating structures,/' deftned as "those institutions (family, church, neighborhood; and voluntary groups) standing between the individual in her/his private life and the large institutions of public life," are essential to .a vital democracy. Their propositions were that, minimally, public policy should no longer undercut and damage mediating structures. Ana furthermore, whenever possible, mediating structures should be utilized for the realization of social goals. Stokes agrees and takes us one step further: "Individuals and communities cannot always create local solutions to global problems entirely on their own. Public policies in support of self-help efforts are often necessary to overcome obstacles that stand in the path of people helping themselves." This is where the Reagan rhetoric falls apart. The Administration would like us to believe that, like magic, neighborhood/community groups will suddenly be able to work with local governments and the private sector to solve social problems. These folks have never
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