Civic Humanism

1. A Variant of Republicanism

"Civic humanism is generally taken as an equivalent or as a particular variant of republicanism, meaning a conception of politics in which government is in principle the common business of the citizens..."

i.e. UCF's attempt to "run DCA like a business". Their New World authority lies in our complicity and constant gratitude, Us, constantly refilling their coffee cup in the diner they own, but which we lease-hold, rent, daily, hourly, indebted to their overflowing generocity, to follow their orders, to heel at their feet, to drool at their bells, to snap to their fingers, the peanut shells crushed to pieces.

But how far is it 'out duty', to the Old Ways of the H(e)artland, to fight in resistance? Perhaps I misapprehend, you misunderstand- Our desire for separatism is of correlative interdependance rather than outright sanctions on both sides- that would do neither of us any favours. Please follow us, take your seats, as We, the hushed ushering serfs of Our own serfdom, show you to your ticketed destination in the theatre of Your hyperreal fortress.

The "city" provides the environment — a public space — for human fulfillment. If, on the one hand, the republic is contrasted to personal or authoritarian government it also differs from the liberal model, which sees society as a collection of atomistic individuals held together by common rules designed to allow them maximum freedom to follow their particular and varied values and interests.

[a shared emphasis[?] mine and theirs = Ours[?]]

...UCF in its own [pea]nut shell... or not! 'Maximum' freedom? we'll DCeeAbout that...

As numerous republican theorists, notably Montesquieu, have emphasized, the republic requires widespread civic virtue, i.e.,the active participation of citizens united by a concern for the common good. The virtues of citizenship are in turn developed and enhanced by being exercised in upholding republican political and legal institutions and making them work by being involved in their operation. Republican life is then thought to be formative of the public spirit on which it rests. Republican freedom depends on constant civic activity. The polity is taken to cohere by means of the common acceptance of standards of justice that are more than procedural rules. The purpose of the commonwealth is not so much peace and ensuring the rights of individuals, as the realization of human potentiality, encouraging the flowering of all forms of creativity and inegenuity insofar as they contribute to public welfare. The republic is the necessary medium of self-realization, not merely the condition of possibility of private endeavors. Indeed, a certain amount of conflict, properly contained, adds to the liveliness and vigor of the republic. There is a link furthermore between the freedom of the citizen and the independence of the republic. Citizen armies and the right to bear arms are therefore common postulates of republican theory.

Civic humanism is linked in principle to a classical educational program that goes beyond the formative capacity of participatory citizenship itself and involves the conscious revival of ancient ideals. Republican candor, simplicity of manner, opposition to ostentation, luxury and lucre, are common, though not universal republican themes. Some theorists also dwell on the millenarian aspirations associated with republican ideals responding to the fragility of the republic and the need to provide against its corruption and decay with the passage of time.

Extracted from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humanism-civic/.