In this time of widespread prosperity and record consumer confidence, it's hard to swallow the notion that, as a society, we may be on the wrong track. But that's exactly the thesis that a report by the new National Commission on Civic Renewal supports. Sure, crime rates are down from the early 1990s, and school test scores have edged upward from their nadir in the mid-1980s. But a far-reaching statistical evaluation presented in the Commission's recent report "A Nation of Spectators" suggests that as a functional, civil society, America is in serious trouble. The national epidemic of civic ENNUI has begun to alarm some heavy hitters in our cultural landscape. In response, former education secretary William Bennett and a consortium of Washington political and academic intelligentsia formed the commission with the purpose of reinvigorating citizen participation in social institutions. Civic renewalists believe that democracy "is neither a consumer good, nor a spectator sport, but rather the work of citizens engaged in shared civic enterprises." Their mission is critical, and the stakes are high. If unsuccessful in turning around citizenship trends, the renewalists say that our very democracy itself will ultimately fail to live to its promise. The study, taking a cue from the environmental sustainability indicators movement, is dubbed Indicators of National Civic Health, or INCH. It employs statistically weighted data in 12 issue areas to establish trend lines in five categories: political activity, trust in government, membership in social and civic organizations, crime, and family. The measurement targets a 25-year spread of data - enough to track a generation. The Commission acknowledges that there have been isolated improvements in crime, school achievement, and out-of-wedlock birth trends, but warns that the overall inclination for each of the five categories is down, particularly since 1974. The index is calibrated to 100 for the year 1972, and drops to 83 by 1996. The most sustained plunge occurs after 1984, a year marked by Ronald Reagan's re-election. The plunge wasn't interrupted until 1991, a year before the Clinton administration took power. Some indicators show dramatic swings, others moderate gradient changes. The percentage of Americans who trust in government wanes from 54% in 1970 to 25% in 1980, then rebounds. On the other hand, participation in local government exhibits a slow steady decline from 14% of the population in 1974 to 8% in 1994. As with the environmental sustainability indicators projects, the renewalists have designed their database to work as an evolving index to gauge overall improvement or decline in civic health. In the meantime, they will pursue their agenda of support of a range of civic health endeavors. In another insightful parallel with the sustainability movement, the group suggests that government is neither the entire cause nor the entire solution to problems related to civic health. Government has had and will have a role in both. But the solution emphasis lies in the hundreds of things done by millions of people for a sustained period. The commission encourages government toward activities be redirected to supporting and fostering community-based movements. The commission has picked a thornier topic than their environmentally oriented counterparts. In tackling what are fundamentally social and moral issues, they slog bravely into the swamp of special interest, value-loaded politics. Unflinchingly, it recommends national school testing, civic education and participation by youth, restraint in content choices by the entertainment and news media, and a fundamental rethinking by adults about the tradeoffs between personal satisfaction versus the-good-of-the-whole. For urbanists, the focus on civic health may signal a welcome return to the inquiry of sociology, as well as a shift in cultural perspective. This ought to be heartening in our postmodern era, which has directed focus on the physical community, often to the exclusion of social concerns. In "A Nation of Spectators", the commission unflinchingly states that their data-supported decline in civic life is our own fault. Their red-flag report suggests that in this time of unprecedented economic wealth in America, it is important to distinguish consumer satisfaction from civic health. And in a note of particular relevance to planners - who could clearly take a lead in facilitating civic revivalism - renewalists state that citizens need no "special preparation, advanced education, or bureaucratic permits to get involved."