Toward A Vision Borne of Optimism

We have squandered our moral capital. We were once a beacon of freedom and hope; now we are too often a power to fear, a focus of hate. Our hubris, our distain for the views and interests of others exhibits a most unbecoming arrogance. We come across as bullies who use others and the natural order for our own small, petty and selfish perceived self interests. This must change. . We need a new vision, a vision borne of the optimism, a love for others, and a respect for difference, and a pervasive decency.

Hugh LaFollette, Cole Professor of Philosophy, University of
South Florida

Now that we have sketched out the geography of the American ideological map, one can see that while there is much that may divide us, there is “something” that also unites us as a nation. This “national spirit” may now be what can hold us together again as a nation and provide the foundation for a renewed vision of America.

A word of caution is in order. This effort is not a return to the post W.W. II exceptionalist view that America, unlike Europe, does not have deep differences that are reflected in our various regions. Yes, we did have a civil war; and between the two coasts is a great heartland, more rural and traditionally conservative than the more urban coastal regions. Those legacies will remain for many years. These regional differences must not be glossed or trivialized, for we need this diversity to forge a future for America.

But if a growing number of our current republicans and democrats believe that we need to do more than tinker with our institutions then mere reforms are not enough. There is a mounting consensus that the structures of our governing systems now inhibit participatory democracy and we have drifted into a deeper divide between those who govern and those who are governed. Various voices are beginning to call a new national discussion about a renewed vision for America. Perhaps through this discussion we can restore that phrase, “the public good,” that has all but disappeared from American political discussion and upon which our nation was founded.

One recurrent theme in our national psyche that might be a good place to start is with the feeling of “optimism” that has always been present (expressed in many different ways) since the bold writing of a constitution in 1776. Those root passions have never died and expressed themselves in reform movements from Jacksonianism to the New Deal and the Great Society. This root optimism believes that our democracy has the internal strength and wisdom to solve problems and that we do have some control over our destiny. Perhaps we still carry that Augustinian “city upon a hill” vision of the authors of the constitution, mixed with the spirit of the Enlightenment. This optimism argues that our democracy is “exceptional” in the belief that the purpose of our government is to protect the voices of the minority, for it is not always the majority that is right.

Of course, the irony of our current era is that this spirit of optimism has been given a new twist since the era of “Reagan optimism” in American politics. Our national spirit of optimism has been given an apocalyptic spin by religious fundamentalists and our foreign policy has been empowered by a “manifest destiny” to democratize the world, whether it wants it or not.

But is it really our historical spirit of optimism that leads our leaders to believe that we can “win” the war in Iraq, despite the evidence of civil war? Is it true “optimism” that leads us to think that we can use our military might to maintain and guard the “empire” despite the fact that we have not won a major conflict since the end of W.W. II? NO. We must distinguish national arrogance from the historic optimism that believed in the power of truth and goodness, not military might, to free persons from tyrannies and oppression, whether political, social or economic. It is that form of optimism that can perhaps form the foundation for a new vision of America.

Liberals and progressives will help develop the vision of a future in which America uses its wealth to respect cultural diversity while leading the developed nations in the agenda to end poverty and hunger (U.N. Millennium Goals). Conservatives and evangelicals* will help us reunite with our past, releasing new energy for the present and future.

The kind of future, empowered by this American optimism, will respect national sovereignties and build international alliances to protect the peace. America will assume new leadership in forging these alliances and lead the way on issues of the environment, human rights social and economic justice.

· Jimmy Carter, who describes himself as an “evangelical” makes the following important distinction between fundamentalists (who he believes represent a serious danger for America’s future) and evangelicals. He characterizes fundamentalism with the terms, “rigidity, domination, and exclusion.” More specifically, he finds that this new form of American political and religious fundamentalism, as expressions of an international phenomenon:

1. “Almost invariably, fundamentalist movements are led by authoritarian males who consider themselves to be superior to others and, within religious groups, have an overwhelming commitment to subjugate women and to dominate their fellow believers.”

2. “Although fundamentalists usually believe that the past is better than the present, they retain certain self-beneficial aspects of both their historic religious beliefs and of the modern world.”

3. “Fundamentalists draw clear distinctions between themselves, as true believers, and others, convinced that they are right and that anyone who contradicts tem is ignorant and possibly evil.”

4. “Fundamentalists are militant in fighting against any challenge to their beliefs. They are often angry and sometimes resort to verbal and even physical abuse against those who interfere with their implementation of their agenda.”

5. “Fundamentalists tend to make their self-definition increasingly narrow and restricted, to isolate themselves, to demagogue emotional issues, and to view change, cooperation, negotiation, and other efforts to resolve differences as signs of weakness.”

(See Jimmy Carter, “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis,” Simon & Shuster, New York, 2006, p34f.)

Summary

Hugh LaFollette, a good friend and the Cole Professor of Ethics at the University of South Florida, summarized my somewhat rambling thoughts more succinctly, so it is the alpha and omega of this submission:

We have squandered our moral capital. We were once a beacon of freedom and hope; now we are too often a power to fear, a focus of hate. Our hubris, our distain for the views and interests of others exhibits a most unbecoming arrogance. We come across as bullies who use others and the natural order for our own small, petty and selfish perceived self interests. This must change. Reform won’t do. We need a new vision, a vision borne of the optimism, a love for others, and a respect for difference, and a pervasive decency.