. . . and about Lakewood’s Civic Culture?
In his book on classical Greece (The Greeks), H.D.F. Kitto raises the question as to why Athens remained a small city-state (polis) instead of forming an empire as the Romans did. Kitto explains that to expand their government beyond the size of the city-state would have been a sort of spiritual death for the Greeks:
“ . . . it was the polis, to the Greek mind, which marked the difference between the Greek and the barbarian: it was the polis which enabled him to live the full, intelligent and responsible life which he wished to live. Athens could not extend her citizenship to the allies without curtailing the political activities and responsibility of each Athenian citizen. Government must have been delegated to representatives, and then the Athenian would have felt that the polis was no longer his own. Life would have lost its savour. The Roman . . . could include Latins in his civitas because the civitas was only a machine of government: so long as it protected him he did not much mind who worked it. The Athenian did not think that way . . . . if the Greek was not within a day’s walk of his political centre, then his life was something less than the life of a real man.”
In other words, for the Greeks the state – their polis – existed so that the citizen could find fulfillment through participation. For the Romans the state existed merely to provide a protected framework within which they could find fulfillment in their smaller groups.
A similar issue arose on October 15 of this year in a discussion among three candidates for City Council. They considered what should be done to improve Lakewood’s civic culture.
One of the candidates put forth the view that we should invigorate “public life” through promoting city-wide committees and other activities that involve the community as a whole, going beyond all the smaller groups within the city and bringing together people of all types. He would be at home with the Greeks.
The other two candidates disagreed. On their view, Lakewood is not one overall community, but a collection of smaller communities existing in the city’s churches, coffee houses, taverns, bowling leagues, etc. They would be at home with the Romans.
So the issue debated by the Lakewood candidates is the same as that between the Greeks and Romans -- what part does the city play in the good life? For the Greeks and the one Council candidate, participation in the city is an essential part of the good life. For the Romans and for the other two Council candidates, the city is only a mechanism allowing the good life to be lived through other groups.
And another issue: What is the value of diversity? If the good life involves participating in the city as a whole, then the value of diversity lies in leading us to confront people of all different kinds. But if the good life involves participating in smaller groups of like-minded people, then the value of diversity lies in the fact that it gives us a better chance of finding a group who are the same as us and share our interests.