The Lost American Value - by Selwynn

[Selwynn]

Maybe this is more appropriately located here, instead of the fast moving GD board since its a little longer.

The Lost American Value
By Selwynn
On Tuesday night, a new man stepped up to the podium of the Democratic National Convention to speak. It was beautiful. His name is Barack Obama, and he spoke with passion and conviction the truths of our time.

And yet, while it was inspiring and satisfying to the soul on many levels, it also filled me with sorrow. One passage in particular evoked that emotion in my heart. He spoke,

…alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga.- a belief that we’re all connected as one people.

If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

Nothing moves my heart more than this idea of relational solidarity with fellow Americans. And I would like nothing more than to believe that most Americans shared this commitment to community. But sadly, I do not believe this is really true in everyday America. In fact, if anything I think our society continues to go consistently in the direction of greater and greater selfishness at the expense of others in the name of "rugged individualism." Compassionate, Community-focused, relational concern for fellow people is a lost American value.

Who is Really to Blame?
Part of the reason we've had four years of George W. Bush is because at some level his policies resonate with enough of society to make that possible. Set aside the misleading justifications for war, and focus instead on the doctrine of unilateral action, destruction of social programs, removal of funding from community initiatives, from environmental protections for civil liberties. The philosophy of the President is a philosophy of every man for himself – women have little place.

Beyond the current President, why is it that the previous President felt that, after the disastrous runs of McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis only a "new" democrat could get elected. “New” meaning standing for less and less of the relational and community driven features of progressive liberalism and more and more for individualistic entrepreneurialism the power elite. Why was it that before President Clinton came twelve years of Ronald Regan and George Bush senior, where the politics of rugged individualism and total disregard for social welfare, relational commitment, empowering communities and interdependence was the norm?

The answer is: because that's where our society is at, philosophically speaking. Or course that understanding is not true of every single American, but it is clearly true of enough people to be a pervasive pattern. It is the American individualistic attitude that says, “Why should I care for you, you are not my problem” which seems to be root of the mindset of our times. Most Americans today do not believe that they could and should be concerned about others as they pursue their own quest for life liberty and happiness. Most Americans do not believe that their greatest happiness and wellbeing is inseparable from their right relationship and compassionate concern for their neighbors and fellow country men and women.

We do need a change at the top. But we also desperately need a change at the very gut of our society. Away from rampant completely self-absorbed consumerism and back to real community - with real fellowship and inter-connectedness. Some other attribute like compassion or justice needs to replace what I believe are the two greatest attributes dominating American life today - relentless greed and all the consumerism/materialism and exploitation that goes with it, and a fixated pursuit of power, taking many different forms.

There are reasons why the divorce rate is over 50% and why families are broken up and broken down everywhere we go, and why psychologist say that the country as a whole has been suffering for years in a state of clinical depression, and why every time you turn around there is yet another person who seems unable to sustain real happiness or joy. That is not just because we have not had the right leaders. That is also because society has such a broken down perspective and philosophy that leaders like Bush or Regan seem like an acceptable option. We ought to live in a society where someone with a platform like Bush's or Regan’s would get lose in a landslide. But we don't. And we need to focus as much on that fact as we focus on our bad leadership at the top.

We live in a society where the majority of people seem to believe that they are islands unto themselves, and care little or nothing for anything outside of their immediate concerns for money/success, possessions/material and power/control over their surroundings and over others. Even your great neighbor, the nice guy, the guy with a good family and a friendly smile still lives a life that does not lift a finger to help anyone around him, or give back to society, or invest in making this world and this nation, a better place. Even nice guys can be part of the problem.

The American dream is still seen as individual achievement, with the only ultimate goal being more personal wealth. Success still seems to be primarily measured by how far you can climb up the ladder, and how much money you can make. That still seems to be the "good life" many people dream about. People believe that simply keeping to themselves and being a good provider for family and ignoring the rest of society is what it means to be a good person. The number of rationalizations given to justify selfishness gone wild are staggering. Some of them are cold and calculated – I don’t give a damn. Some of them are apologetic – I think we should do more, but what little ol’ me do? Some of them find a scapegoat – its not my responsibility, it’s the evil bad men in Washington’s fault. The fact remains – selfishness and exploitative perverse individualism abounds. Community, Brotherhood and Sisterhood, Fellowship, Relational compassion and a commitment to one another does not.

And over and over again, there is the persistent attitude that says, “I didn't do anything to cause my neighbor to suffer, therefore my neighbor's suffering is not my problem.” To me, this is the most selfish society in the history of the world, and I believe it is one of the key reasons why it is falling apart. Yes, electing John Kerry President in 2004 will save us from the insanity of Bush and his (mis)administration. But it does not get to the heart of the real problem. The skewed and destructive unhealthy fixation on self-centeredness in the American public is the ultimate cancer to a healthy society. If we could some how change that perspective, then the people would never elect leaders like Bush in the first place.

Closing Philosophical Fragments
It seems like American people are stuck in an old nineteenth century modernistic conception of the "self" as a radically detached, thoroughly autonomous, completely self-enclosed agent, needing no one and nothing. This is where "radical individualism" seems to come from. Enter on to the scene a combination of existentialism, process philosophy and - most importantly, feminist theory. Among the many things that feminist theory contributed to philosophy was a scathing indictment of modernisms conception of selfhood and self-identity.

The self is not radically detached from culture or context. Who I am today is dependent at least in part on where I live, who I am surrounded by and how they live. If I had grown up in Africa and had completely different contextual/relational experiences, I would not be completely the same person I am today. I would think differently and perceive the world through a different lens.

Human self-identity is a curious interplay between the individual elements of selfhood and the relational, communal elements of selfhood. In sharp contrast to the narrowly conceived limitations of modernistic thinking, feminist theory helped express the truth that the role of context on our own self-identity had been completely ignored, and until the reality of the impact of others on the self is more properly appreciated, no healthy picture of selfhood could be established. Our own identity emerges in interdependence and interconnectedness with the world around us. As such, the health and well-being of my neighbor is in fact in my very own interests. A better, more productive, safer, more equitable, more just, more peaceful society is in my direct best interests, because my selfhood is determined in part by the context in which I live – better context, better self.

The debate over the exact parameters of individual freedom in self-determination, and contextual determinism (i.e. the elements of culture and society that shape us beyond our ability to control it) will go on for a long time. But one thing that is clear – context matters. The social framework in which we exist has direct and personal impact on our own well-being. Healthy relationships and connectedness to others is a integral component of our own health and happiness. And while this is most certainly true, it is not something that I see evident in American society on the whole.

Obama spoke of an American in which the complimentary ideals of individual determination and community orientation exist in harmony. Can we honestly say we see anything close to that dream yet?

[PATRICK]

1. This Island America

It is not the whole story at all to point out a decadence in national character to account for social dysfunction. You could say it was the reverse but some progress is accidentally, not purposefully regressive.

Two-salary family work schedules, decline of public transportation and meeting places, fractioning and degrading of national news forums, and simple things like commuting or home work stations keep decent people apart and caved, surrounded by new complex beasts and dangers instead of enjoying freedom from simple old ones.

People, when not over corrupted by the situation, are still people. The old myths of the Romans wilting in decadence of the appetites and declining social responsibility are probably too simplistic too. Peace and success can do you in when newly discovered benefits blind you to new costs and old strengths. it is as much to blame the media for as recently as 2000 openly rambling that voting was not such a big deal, voter apathy not bad in itself, and Biblical greed sold everywhere roping in suckers like it was 1929.

The breakdown in social morality is hardcore only in the manipulative Right. The people are mostly at sea under their misguidance. The real "moral majority" is what Obama's speech rallied. If it is not the real majority of humans there is no tower or cave that can shelter you.

Why cave in constantly to demands, the carping of the right for "perfection"? Humanity is still a work in progress, not regress. I guess the right would be very happy if we were all orcs and they the overlords. They certainly are not building the Pollyanna communities they profess to adore.

[Selwynn]

2. No one was suggesting it is the whole story. However...

It is an untold part of the whole story.

Acting like simple change at the top with make everything better is also simplistic. Nothing I have said here or elsewhere has anything to do with perfection. It does have to do with understanding that the problems that we need to tackle come from two different directions - we need to elect better leadership, and we need to be better people. You say that people, when not over corrupted by the situation are still people. But the unmentioned fact is, that people play a direct role in their own corrupted situation.

It is an either/or fallacy to try to make the case, that the people bare no responsibility for the condition of society - and someone or something else is to blame. It is also an either/or fallacy to claim that people and not oppressive structures or the will of a controlling few are entirely to blame for our problems. Reality is somewhere in the middle, however what usually doesn't get discussed, is the own state of our culture and the prevailing ideologies that shape our land. Obama believes that one of those ideologies is the principle of social responsibility wed with individualism. I believe the former is an ideology we must strive to cultivate, but I don't believe that it is a prevailing ideology in 21st century American today.

Our leaders can help lead us in that right direction, but at the same time we elect the leaders that reflect the direction we are going. It is a circular dilemma which requires hard work and dedication to change on all sides.

[PATRICK]

3. Agree wholeheartedly

that banking on the top is disastrous. Then we really would be in the position of the Roman Empire where the Republic could no longer handle the job and the Emperor became a cult of presumption. Grass roots and re-socialization of our increasing population is not a giddy certainty, yet both are necessary besides a top victory.

To have the top itself poisoned however spells doom and despair in a way no human being can labor under and expect to have humankind itself see the end of the century. Hope breeds hope.

For all the excitement we are just getting back to the crisis of basics, but grimness will not move us very far from the starting line.