This view on what the members of a community can accomplish when acting in a humane, concerted and enlightened way may appear overly idyllic and philanthropic and, much as we regret to say it, to a great it is (but see Etzioni, 1995). Individuals have frequently proved to be less inclined to make personal sacrifices to the common good than communitarians would like to think they are. Also, for all its consensual virtues, communitarian governance has problems enforcing the common will on those who oppose specific proposals to that effect. Most importantly perhaps, communitarianism tends to exaggerate the blessings of consensus and the evils of disagreement; conflicts over specific issues would not be seen as something negative but rather as something refreshing by most observers of local politics. In Chapter 7 we will discuss this approach to governance in much more detail.