What Voluntary Activity Can and Cannot Do for America

With his emphasis on private sector initiatives, President Reagan provided welcome attention to voluntary organizations and to personal responsibility for community service, but along the way he contributed to an exaggerated notion of what voluntary activity can do and what government need not do. President Bush intends to expand the encouragement of personal service through stimulation of the thousand points of light, which can be a great boon to active citizenship but only if he learns the lessons from his predecessor's miscalculations. Voluntary endeavor represents an extra dimension through which Americans address their needs, pursue their hopes, and help keep government responsive and effective, but it does not take the place of government in serving as the basic agent of civic interdependence.