Conclusion

Summary

“Can there be a more fundamentally, democratic program than a democratically minded and participating people? Can man envisage a more sublime program on earth than the people having faith in their fellow men and themselves?” There is a rich irony in this statement by Alinsky, for there are many things that are more sublime than keeping faith with oneself and another. People manage to keep faith with each other every day. Yet Alinsky’s statement asks us to consider whether, if we could simply manage this seemingly mundane task, would not life be a great deal more neighborly? The acts of betrayal committed in the prioritization of profit and power over people point to the constant failure to answer his question in the affirmative. Alinsky’s own answer, his own program for a more neighborly life, was to forge a distinctive form of democratic politics that still has much to teach us. It does not offer salvation, but it can provide some consolation for and a way of coping with the grief of living between the world as it is and the world as it should be. Alinsky was shrewd enough to realize that while democratic politics may well provide a means of developing pietas or a civic form of faithfulness, it is dependent on prior forms of piety; that is, the kinds of beliefs and practices that generate and renew faith, hope, and love. Nourishing faithful, hopeful, and loving people is vital if democracy is to be given the gift it cannot live without: time. Without people with the virtues necessary to take the time to listen to and build relationships with each other, democratic politics cannot be sustained over time.