Renewing American Compassion [Paperback]

Marvin Olasky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Offers dozens of success stories, and a summary of history's lessons, to show concrete ways for each of us to help our neighbors.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Throughout this superb argument for replacing politically crafted, government-administered welfare with religiously informed service to the poor, Olasky stresses that compassion really means "suffering with." In the absorbing middle chapters, he demonstrates that this understanding of compassion animated what Americans called charity until the New Deal inaugurated the bureaucratized, impersonal, rigidly materialistic "social services" that many say now maintain rather than solve the problems of poverty. As in the past, so today, in the private religious agencies whose stories Olasky tells, "suffering with" involves making very personal investments of time and companionship (e.g., by taking an unwed mother to live in one's home). Such personal service is not, however, the only necessary component of successful welfare. Olasky says challenging people in crisis to do better for and by themselves and meeting their spiritual needs are the other two essentials that good faith^-based welfare does as a matter of course but that government welfare won't and, because of federal court decisions, can't. There is even more hard substance to this densely informative little book that may come to be regarded as the conservative manifesto on welfare. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Only the deserving poor should be helped, argues Olasky (Journalism/Univ. of Texas), as he makes the case for a return to 19th-century welfare strategies and ``traditional American values.'' When President Franklin Pierce in 1854 vetoed mental health legislation inspired by Dorothea Dix's impassioned pleas, he argued that even worthwhile appropriations would push the federal government down a slippery slope and that ``the foundations of charity will be dried up at home.'' For Olasky this event exemplifies the contrast between the true American values of neighborly charity noted by de Tocqueville and the very different movement toward federal welfare that triumphed in Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Olasky sees the 19th century as an ideal era, at least insofar as private charities both helped individuals on a more personal level and challenged them to change. Most such charities had a religious basis. The author believes in shame as an important force to turn people toward hard work and self- sufficiency. The Puritan work ethic is prominent in these pages: Olasky explicitly bases his views on what he calls a ``biblical'' theology, which is in fact narrowly Calvinist, asserting human depravity and wary of universalism in any form. This book contains the usual stock themes of the present debate, with references to dependency and wasteful bureaucracy, but Olasky argues that welfare should not be left totally to the altruism of individuals. He is opposed to block grants, which could be misused, and he supports the move toward reducing the federal tax burden while at the same time raising state taxes for ``social welfare purposes.'' One could be exempted from the state tax by giving the equivalent in cash or time to local poverty-fighting organizations. A useful but not profound contribution to the current debate. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing; 1st Regnery ed edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895264145
• ISBN-13: 978-0895264145
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,482,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars challenging, May 11, 2001

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RENEWING AMERICAN COMPASSION: A Citizen's Guide (Hardcover)

I've described myself as a compassionate conservative, because I am convinced a conservative philosophy is a compassionate philosophy that frees individuals to achieve their highest potential. It is conservative to cut taxes and compassionate to give people more money to spend. It is conservative to insist upon local control of schools and high standards and results; it is compassionate to make sure every child learns to read and no one is left behind. It is conservative to reform the welfare system by insisting on work; it's compassionate to free people from dependency on government. It is conservative to reform the juvenile justice code to insist on consequences for bad behavior; it is compassionate to recognize that discipline and love go hand in hand. -George W. Bush

We conservatives are admittedly cranky; after all, we spend most of our days worrying that the rest of you slovenly lot are driving the country, if not the World, towards Hell just as fast as you can go. But even for folks as dour as us, the reaction to George W. Bush's use of the label "compassionate conservative" was fairly crusty. For many on the Right, it was a particularly objectionable formulation because of its implicit suggestion that normal, garden variety, conservatism lacks compassion. Meanwhile, Democrats, the Press, and the rest of the Left reacted angrily because they think the two terms are mutually exclusive. It's an article of their faith that compassion can only be demonstrated by slathering money on a problem and by absolving the downtrodden of any blame for their predicament. Conservatism, with its emphasis on limited government and personal responsibility, just doesn't fit their view of compassion.

So it's helpful to refer to the man who more than anyone else was responsible for generating the focus on compassion as a conservative issue, Marvin Olasky. A professor at the University of Texas, a senior fellow at The Progress and Freedom Foundation, the editor of World Magazine, and an informal advisor to the Bush campaign, Olasky has a very specific definition in mind when he speaks of compassion, one that is very different from how modern liberalism defines it, but which also contains an important challenge to conservatives.

The Democrats' definition of choice for the term would be something along the lines of the first entry at Dictionary.com :

com·pas·sion (km-pshn) n. Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.

This is the sort of wholly impersonal, but theoretically well-intentioned, caring and empathy that Bill Clinton was so good at faking. Under this definition, proper emotional response and a willingness to spend money are sufficient to demonstrate compassion.

Olasky is asking for a return to an older definition, one that demands more :

compassion \Com*pas"sion\, n. [F., fr. L. compassio, fr. compati to have compassion; com- + pati to bear, suffer. See Patient.] Literally, suffering with another; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration.

It is the notion of suffering with someone that he's after here. In this sense, government action is bad not just because it turns those it is intended to help into dependents, but also because it creates a distance between the intended beneficiaries and the rest of us, who should actually be required to participate in their suffering. It is this element of compassionate conservatism which necessarily leads to Faith Based Initiatives. The kind of participatory compassion he's referring to, requires the kind of volunteer social services which are really only delivered effectively by our churches, temples and mosques.

In turn, the reliance on our great moral institutions leads into the other retrograde element of the definition that Olasky wants to bring back, this is the idea that the need for the compassion of others imposes an obligation on the recipient. It is not enough to accept largesse from taxpayers, you have to work for and warrant the charity you receive.

Throughout the book, Olasky cites example after example of organizations and congregations which are providing this sort of charity. He demonstrates that their success depends both on the involvement of caring private individuals to provide the services and the commitment to traditional values like morality, self sufficiency and self respect on the part of those they serve. These examples present a challenge to both the Left and the Right, requiring that the Left accept the idea that recipients of social assistance will meet certain moral standards and requiring of both the Left and the Right a commitment to fund and staff private and religious charities. It is difficult to judge how successfully these challenges might be met, because right now the government takes such a huge portion of our wealth, provides these programs (however inadequately), and places practically no burdens on recipients. With the Social Welfare State having proved an ignominious failure, Welfare Reform in place, and the Faith Based Initiative approaching reality, we're well on the way to testing Olasky's ideas. For the sake of our own souls, the poor's livelihoods, and the civic health, let's hope we're all up to the challenge.

GRADE : B-

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Educational but horribly biased, March 7, 2004

By 

C. Gotcu (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Renewing American Compassion (Paperback)

It is hard reviewing this book because although its message is very important it is also biased against what he calls 'liberals'. The only people I know who do volunteer work at homeless shelters are liberals yet he suggests that not only have the Democratic cabinets ruined the most unfortunate of our citizens but that liberal individuals themselves are guilty of marginalizing them and depriving them of humane treatment.

The reason why the book deserves 4 stars is because it calls communities and individuals to action and no matter what one's political sentiments are they should answer that call as a human being and not as a partisan.

As always, independently of the political associations the book or the author advertises, one should take things with a grain of salt and consult not only both sides of the issue but also proven factual information before making a decision on should act upon.

5.0 out of 5 stars Tass, February 6, 2010

By 

Tass - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Renewing American Compassion (Paperback)

Very very good book to understand why we need welfare reform in this Country (USA)