The Libertarians, and many well-meaning people on the street are too willing to whittle down big government and hand over to the pieces to the corporate sector. Some advocate privatization because they are scheming up new ways to make a buck, others because they don't know a third way. The choice for many people is between privatization and big government. Communitarians reject this dichotomy but add another undesirable choice. While laissez-faire obsessives are loath to admit it, these defects are unfortunately found as much in private commerce as in the government, among firms and fraternities no less than in welfare bureaucracies.
Barber proposes numerous arenas for legislative action to energize civil society.
He also discusses the development of national and community service programs and service learning programs. In many ways the key factor in the struggle against unchecked corporate and government power is the nature of work in the contemporary United States. People are working increasingly without benefits. Real wages for much of the workforce are stagnant or even declining and more people are going deeper into dept to make up the difference. The nature of time and work is a key issue which Barber has put off to the final chapter and, unfortunately, I don't think he gives it a full enough examination.