Can we make a better community by not relying on government by:?

1. Community clinics staffed by a doctor funded with neighborhood contributions for contributing members only.

2. Neighborhood Mentoring for wayward children and family support.

3. After school neighborhood supervised activities at the local park or sandlot.

4. non partisan neighborhood political action groups to advocate for neighborhood improvements.

5. Neighborhood clean streets and and vacant lot cleanup committies.

6. After school home work help get togethers.

Any other suggestions. You can't count on local government especially in emergencies. Does anyone belong to a very active neighboorhood assiciatiaon.

Can we make a better community by not relying on government by:?blocked myspace

In other words, avoid socialism.

Can we make a better community by not relying on government by:?girl myspace myspace.com

We pay plenty in taxes for good care and services. We have a right to demand it from our elected reps.
I am about as liberal a person as you're likely to meet. So I'm not a person who believes government is 'bad' or that government doesn't work or -can't- work. But even I believe that what you suggest is a good idea!

If people got together to help each other, much of what government did would be unnecessary. And you make an excellent point in that this would work best on the local level--the neighborhood, the community, etc. There's an old saying: All politics is local. Local volunteerism and involvement would encompass not just the values of democracy (or socialism) but also those of Christianity (and other religions) that are all about loving your neighbor and taking care of each other.

However, that being said, it's pretty clear that most people won't do stuff like this. Why that is I can't say for sure. But I have some ideas. It could be that under capitalism everyone is out for himself, we compete with each other to get ahead, and this doesn't encourage cooperative effort. In the US we highly value individualism--individual rights, individual striving and achievement, etc. You really notice this when you visit other countries and see how much more community-oriented they are. Or it could just be that people are naturally selfish and self-involved. People who advocate community action are often criticized as 'socialist'.

The reason we need government is to provide services that can't be provided any other way. Without government, these things wouldn't be available at all.
Anytime you can keep the government out and rely on community services it is better. Government just incrementally increases costs and regulations for no additional services. This is NEVER cost effective.
You've got some great points. Up until the 1940's, people were a lot more self-sufficient. They helped each other out a lot more, and didn't even think to ask the government for help. It was when FDR began stating that it was the government's job to help people, and created a bunch of social programs, such as Social Security, that people began to rely on the government for help. Now we're left with an inefficient welfare system that's riddled with corruption. It's time that we got together and became more active in our communities.