Neuroscience has shown that the child’s brain is biologically primed to learn from experience, so that early environments powerfully affect the archi… - Robert D. Putnam

Light-touch government works more efficiently in the presence of social capital. Police close more cases when citizens monitor neighborhood comings and goings. Child welfare departments do a better job of “family preservation” when neighbors and relatives provide social support to troubled parents. Public schools teach better when parents volunteer in classrooms and ensure that kids do their homework. When community involvement is lacking, the burdens on government employees — bureaucrats, social workers, teachers, and so forth — are that much greater and success that much more elusive.

Rich kids are more confident that they can influence government, and they are largely right about that.14 Not surprisingly, poor kids are less likely to try.

Social dislocation can easily breed a reactionary form of nostalgia.