We are living through an interregnum. The neoliberal order that structured American politics from Reagan through Obama has collapsed—not into a new consensus, but into a messy, heated contest. Capita believes the common good—as an animating idea, moral framework, and organizing principle for policy—has a serious claim to define what comes next.

Through our work we’ve built towards defining and advancing the concept of common good pluralism: the conviction that human flourishing is irreducibly social, that beauty, culture, health, and spirituality are integral to a fully human life, and that these goods are best pursued through many institutions and traditions rather than any single, centralizing vision.

Pluralism

Capita is willing to stake bold claims about the general characteristics of a flourishing community: it will tend to contain close interpersonal relationships, shared values that transcend money and status, physical health, generous solidarity, closeness with nature, great art, creative work, and spiritual exploration. We could go on. We believe that too many on the Left are reticent to speak in these terms, leaving a massive vacuum of meaning and shared purpose, which is all too often filled by market forces or toxic, exclusive moralisms and religiosities. We believe that human communities have no choice but to think and speak and experiment around questions of who they are, and who they want to become.  

At the same time, America has long been a diverse nation, and never more so than now. We simply will not achieve perfect consensus on any of these points, and that is all to the good. Some will disagree with our list of community-enhancing characteristics. Others will agree, but the content—the particular form of relationships, work, or spirituality, say—will vary greatly. We believe we can call ourselves and our neighbors to a richer, fuller life without dictating the form that life will take. A flourishing community, in short, will look different in Dearborn, Boston, San Francisco, and Memphis.

There will be times, alas, when communities clash over potentially irreconcilable differences. But for the most part, we believe that these various lifeways share a great deal in common, and in many cases, where they diverge, this divergence only adds to the beauty of the whole.