“The Great Society went wrong for three major reasons. First, the self-organization the Johnson administration promoted turned out to be not the pooling of family and community resources into shops and businesses, but political pressure for government handouts. Second, the Great Society failed to anticipate the perverse side-effects of handing money out to people who have done nothing to earn it. Third, while the Great Society was showering money on the poor, the Supreme Court was with childlike glee smashing to bits traditional methods of maintaining law and order.” PeopleFirstsSelfReasonDoneGovernmentLawPoliticalOrderThreeBitsSidesCommunityPoorEffectsMajorsResourcesOrganizationThirdsPressureMethodCourtSupremeTraditionalAdministrationShopsSupreme CourtMaintainingJohnsonAnticipateChildlikeLaw And OrderGleeSide EffectsSmashingHandoutsGreat Society Author:David Frum
“I got a sense of the amazingness of ordinary life, and I became aware of the marvel that we're around to begin with. I visited a lot of extreme communities, like the Amish, Hasidic Jews, and serpent-handlers. And I was proud, because I think I'm the first person to ever out-Bible-talk a Jehovah's Witness. After four hours, he said, "Okay, I have to go."” ThinkingFirstsPersonsSaidCommunityHoursFourProudOrdinaryOkayJewExtremesWitnessFirst PersonOrdinary LifeSerpentJehovahAmish Author:A. J. Jacobs
“The first lady of Uganda is a devoted evangelical and beloved by the faith community. At an evangelical conference in Argentina, one minister said, "Mama Janet has given us the keys to Africa." She has done that by creating a nation that has embraced a Dominionist form of Christianity that believes that Christians have a God-given right to rule the world.” WorldFirstsBelieveSaidDoneChristianFormGivenNationsCommunityChristianityKeysCreatingMinistersBelovedDevotedConferencesMamaEvangelicalFirst LadyArgentinaUgandaFaith Community Author:Roger Ross Williams
“A man's first bond is that which ties him into the national community.” MenFirstsCommunityTiesNational Community Author:Martin Heidegger
“I spent the first few years of my life in a smallish community in Queens. Back in those early days, kids could roam the streets with relatively little supervision and one place I visited frequently was the local library. This particular branch was little more than a storefront but to me it was an alternative universe where I could explore my interests and receive kind, informative answers to my questions from the wonderful librarians.” YearsFirstsKindLittlesKidsUniverseInterestCommunityAnswersWonderfulStreetsParticularLibraryLocalsAlternativesQueensBranchesLibrarianSupervisionInformative Author:Jonathan Kellerman
“I grew up in a community of theatre, and I always loved musicals. From a young age, the first present I ever wanted was a video camera. For me it was a great outlet to be creative.” FirstsAgeWantedYoungCommunityCreativeGrewGrew UpCamerasTheatreVideoBe CreativeYoung AgeOutletsVideo Cameras Author:Christopher Egan
“In school they told me I was a Jew, "a filthy Jew." At first I asked myself what exactly that was. But then I began to understand. I was a Jew, I was a member of the Jewish faith, the Jewish community. One time, when I was giving a reading at a school, someone asked me: "If it was so dangerous to be Jewish, why didn't you convert to Christianity?" My response was: "It's not as easy you think. When you're a Jew, you're a Jew.” IfsThinkingGivingFirstsSchoolReadingEasyCommunityChristianityDangerousMembersResponseJewOne TimeFilthyJewish CommunityJewish Faith Author:Anita Lasker-Wallfisch
“In the first place, the church can ask the state whether its actions are legitimate and in accordance with its character as state, i.e., it can throw the state back on its responsibilities. Secondly, it can aid the victims of state action. The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community. The third possibility is not just to bandage the victims under the wheel, but to put a spoke in the wheel itself.” IfsFirstsStatesCharacterActionChristianAsksCommunityChurchResponsibilityPossibilityThirdsVictimAidsObligationWheelsSpokesUnconditionalBandagesChristian Community Author:Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Modern problems proliferate and remain unsolved because we spend so much time trying to deal with societal and world problems without first dealing with family and community problems. If we organized for normal families and communities - if these two groups provided the functions they are designed for - world problems would diminish and fade out in two or three generations.” IfsWorldTryingFirstsTwoProblemThreeCommunityDealsGenerationsGroupsModernNormalFunctionOrganizedFadesDiminishWorld ProblemsThree GenerationsNormal Family Author:Ralph Borsodi