Where We Stand
By William A. Galston
Table of Contents
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The past generation has witnessed an expansion of traditional American values of freedom, individual rights, and equal opportunity - and the enhanced appeal of these values around the world. Belief in the "American creed" remains strong. Most Americans are comfortable with the movement toward social equality over the past generation and have no desire to turn the clock back. Most of us believe that freedom is working, and personal optimism is high.
But while Americans cherish personal liberty and celebrate its expansion, we are troubled by some of its consequences. As we have become a high-choice society, important social bonds have weakened. Many scholars believe that this tension between individual choice and social solidarity is unavoidable and that the best we can do is to strike a workable balance between them. But in America today, this tension is a source of deep ambivalence.
We take pride in the expansion of tolerance in our society, but we wonder whether the remaining moral norms are strong enough to restrain the abuse of personal liberty. We cherish individualism and rights, but we worry about their consequences for community and responsibility. As our political institutions have weakened and individualistic political entrepreneurship has become the norm, a rupture has occurred between the government and the people, especially young adults. We feel economically prosperous but civically impoverished.
Our ambivalence shapes - and complicates - the task of renewing our civic life. We want to strengthen the bonds that connect us to one another, but not at the expense of hard-won individual rights and liberties. We are reluctant to enforce the norms we endorse. So while Americans are deeply troubled about family breakdown, we are worried about enacting tougher divorce laws. While we are convinced that teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock birth are negative for our society, we hesitate to implement policies that would stigmatize individuals engaging in this behavior. While we want stronger social bonds in neighborhoods and among citizens, we hesitate to use coercion to foster them.
There is no way of dissolving the tension between individual choice and social solidarity. But we can strike a better balance between them. To do this, we must emphasize an ethic of reciprocity and mutual responsibility throughout our society. The reason is simple: A good society does not descend like manna from heaven. It is built and sustained through the efforts of its citizens. No society can long survive on the principle of "something for nothing." If we receive something of value (whether from our neighbors or our government), we must be prepared to give something back. The practice of reciprocity won't limit our liberties. On the contrary, it will strengthen the framework of institutions, beliefs, and bonds that secures the exercise of rights.
The challenge of renewing our civic life through the ethic of reciprocity is made even more important by the dramatic changes we have experienced during the past generation. The end of the Cold War has diminished the felt importance of politics, especially at the national level. The New Economy has weakened the bonds of loyalty that once linked corporations and their employees. Technological innovations - especially information technology - have changed the ways that Americans interact and associate with one another. Fifty-four percent of all students entering college this year participate in Internet chat rooms; 83 percent are using the Internet for research. By the year 2000, it is likely that half of all American households will be on-line. Technological change is putting pressure on institutions throughout our society, including the political parties and media networks that once helped organize our public agenda and discussion. As Mark Penn's survey makes clear, we are sharply divided about the impact - both current and long-term - of these new technologies on the fabric of our social and civic life.
America's Values at Century's End
To renew a civic life based on mutual responsibility, we must begin from where we are. While our values have changed significantly during the past generation, many of the principles and beliefs that make us distinctive remain intact.
1) American exceptionalism is alive and well, and the "American creed" remains strong.
As compared with other economically developed nations, Americans continue to emphasize individual freedom and rights, personal responsibility rather than government responsibility, equality of opportunity rather than results, and an ethic of dynamism and risk-taking over that of stability and security. Our historic preference for local over national political institutions, suspended during the period from the beginning of the New Deal to the end of the Cold War, has now reasserted itself. We remain near the top in voluntary activity (82 percent of Americans belong to at least one voluntary association), and we continue to register very high levels of religious faith and observance.
In overwhelming numbers, Americans express a deep patriotism and abiding faith in our constitutional order as the best system of government. We distinguish sharply between our political institutions, which we regard as fundamentally sound, and the performance of most politicians, of whom we are sharply critical. And in spite of much recent hand-wringing about the "balkanization" of America, the evidence suggests far more agreement than disagreement about basic values and public purposes across lines of race and ethnicity, and between longstanding and newly arrived citizens. More than 90 percent of all Americans endorse democracy, patriotism, acceptance of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, honesty, courage, caring for friends and family, and the Golden Rule as basic values that should be taught in our schools.
2) Most Americans are comfortable with the progress toward social equality and inclusion over the past generation and have no desire to turn the clock back.
By very large and increasing margins, Americans endorse steps to secure racial justice, equal opportunities for women, tolerance for cultural differences, the inclusion of all ethnic and immigrant groups in the story of America, and the "mainstreaming" of formerly marginalized groups such as Americans with disabilities. Not surprisingly, political and social movements perceived as moralistic and intolerant tend to command only minority support.
3) Most Americans believe that freedom is working for them and their families, and personal optimism is high.
Satisfaction with economic circumstances and prospects is at a record high, and most Americans believe that the New Economy and today's society offer more choices for more individuals than ever before. This personal optimism is strengthening a new ethic of self-reliance - the belief in resilient, adaptable individuals rather than stable and dependable institutions - that is especially intense among young Americans. For example, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC survey indicated that 75 percent of GenXers believe that individual workers should be allowed to direct the investment of a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes, compared to only 39 percent of New Dealers.
As recently as a decade ago, this emphasis on individual freedom - a key element of American exceptionalism - was widely seen as a problem hindering our ability to compete effectively with more solidaristic nations such as Germany and Japan. Today, this worry has been turned on its head. There is evidence that this distinctive complex of values - freedom, flexibility, innovation, self-reliance, a strong belief in opportunity and social mobility - is especially well-suited both to individual success in the New Economy and to the ability of nations to take advantage of emerging economic possibilities.
4) While Americans cherish personal freedom and celebrate its expansion, they are troubled by some of its consequences - for families, neighborhoods, communities, and to some extent for workers as well.
In the economic sphere, after eight years of growth that have brought us to the lowest unemployment rates in a generation, anxiety about long-term job loss is actually higher today than it was in the 1980s. Many workers feel more disposable than they once did, and increased economic flexibility comes at the cost of weakened bonds of loyalty between workers and their employers. Many Americans are also troubled by the perception that increased economic mobility has diminished the sense of responsibility businesses once felt for their local communities.
Social trends of the past generation viewed negatively by most Americans include rising rates of crime, welfare dependency, divorce, teen sexual intercourse, out-of-wedlock births, and fatherless families, coupled with a perceived decline of the ties of connection and loyalty in neighborhoods and workplaces. During the 1990s, many of these trends have begun to improve. Teen sex, births to teens, illegitimacy, divorce, crime, and welfare dependency have all declined significantly. But these positive developments have yet to register in changed attitudes - in part because beliefs tend to change more slowly than actual conditions, and in part because many improved indicators still register social pathologies at levels higher than a generation ago, and much higher than most Americans regard as satisfactory.
Indeed, one of the defining characteristics of American public opinion at century's end is the pervasiveness of moral concerns. Sixty-two percent identify a decline in moral values as one of the "major causes of our problems today." One piece of conventional wisdom is that this reflects the improved economy and decline of economic concerns. But in fact moral concerns have dominated material concerns for nearly all of the past decade, in good economic times and bad.
Another piece of conventional wisdom discounts expression of moral concern on the grounds that Americans always believe that morality is in decline and that things were better in some earlier time. This is at most partly true. In 1937, for example, 45 percent of Americans believed that values had weakened over the past generation. Today, that figure is at 76 percent. As recently as 25 years ago, Americans were about evenly divided between optimism and pessimism concerning the future of moral and ethical standards in our country. Today, the pessimists dominate by 2 to 1. Not surprisingly, 66 percent of Americans are now more worried that the country will become too tolerant of behavior that is bad for society rather than too intolerant, versus only 28 percent who fear intolerance more.
There is evidence of widespread public desire for a new balance between rights and responsibilities, self-expression and self-restraint, individual free-dom and older norms of connection and solidarity. Fifty-five percent of Americans now say that it is more important to defend standards of right and wrong than to extend individual rights; 76 percent prefer being tough on criminals to protecting the rights of the accused.
Young people - the coming generation of leaders - seem to have an especially strong desire for such a recalibration. The percentage of college freshmen who say that there is too much concern for criminals has risen from 50 percent in 1970 to 70 percent today. Forty-three percent of freshmen (including 53 percent of women) believe that material on the Internet should be regulated by the government. Acceptance of casual sex is also down to a record low of 40 percent, compared to a high of 52 percent in 1987. And numerous surveys conducted over the past decade have documented the burning desire of young Americans to give their children and spouses stabler marriages and family lives than their baby-boomer parents provided them. Young Americans - indeed, most Americans - see weakened families not just as a source of personal unhappiness, but as a key obstacle to civic renewal.
5) Americans' view of their political institutions (and of large institutions in general) has become much more negative during the past generation, leading to a deep rupture between the people and their government.
This represents a profound change in American politics. During the New Deal, only one-third of the people felt that too much power was concentrated in Washington. Now, two-thirds feel that way. As recently as 1973, only 32 percent agreed that "the best government is one that governs the least." Today, 56 percent agree. While there has been a significant increase during the past six years in the percentage of Americans who say that they are basically satisfied with the way the federal government works, the bond between citizens and governing institutions has not been repaired. The fraction of citizens who say they trust the federal government to do what's right has been cut in half during the past generation and now stands at only 31 percent.
The gap between citizens and public institutions is especially large among young people, and it is continuing to widen. For example, only 39 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 believe that elected officials are trustworthy, compared to 56 percent of Americans aged 65 or older. This finding is significant because younger Americans' perception of government is more heavily influenced by their evaluation of public officials, and less by government performance, than is the case for older Americans. Not surprisingly, a recent survey of nearly 276,000 entering college freshmen found political interest and involvement at record lows. Only 26 percent feel that keeping up with political affairs is important, compared with 58 percent a generation ago. Social scientists worry that the negative impressions of politics characteristic of today's young Americans may shape political attitudes and behavior throughout their adult lives.
The ruptured bond between citizens and their political institutions has led to a view of government as dominated by "them" rather than sustained by "us." Today, 61 percent believe that the government doesn't care what average citizens think, and 66 percent feel that elected officials quickly lose touch with ordinary Americans and their everyday problems. A generation ago, only 29 percent felt that government was dominated by and run for the benefit of the special interests; today, 74 percent feel that way. Not surprisingly, citizens are far less likely to vote out of a sense of civic duty (or for any other reason) than they were a generation ago, and many other forms of political participation have decreased as well.
John F. Kennedy urged citizens to ask what they could do for their country, not what their country could do for them; today, few political leaders suggest that anything should be required of citizens, as a matter of duty to the community or even in return for generous benefits provided by the community. Perhaps our leaders fear that if they propose policies based on reciprocity, the people will turn against them. If so, Mark Penn's survey suggests that they are underestimating the people and that there is a widespread desire (perhaps even a hunger) for public policies more closely aligned with common-sense moral principles.
Our Challenge: Renewing Civic Life by Moving to a New Ethic of Reciprocity
The disruption of the relation between citizens and their government has not extended to our society as a whole. By many measures, levels of civil association and civic activity at the local level remain high, even among young people who are most likely to have tuned out official politics. A record number of college freshmen report volunteering their time during their last year of high school - 74 percent, up from 62 percent a decade ago. And more than occasionally: 42 percent volunteered at least weekly, up from 27 percent a decade ago.
As Mark Penn's survey shows, young Americans are not satisfied with the condition of our civic life. They are more likely than older citizens to believe that Americans do not live up to their public responsibilities and that there should be more emphasis on community. And they are more likely than others to support government actions designed to strengthen civic life - even when that means making civic education and service mandatory as graduation requirements for all high school students.
In rejecting the view that voluntary activities will be enough to solve our nation's problems, younger Americans are in agreement with their fellow-citizens. Although we believe (as we have since early in our national history) that social progress begins at home, in families, neighborhoods, and local communities, we do not believe that it ends there. Fully 72 percent of Americans believe that America's social problems can be best addressed through closer collaboration between government and voluntary associations (religious and charitable), versus only 16 percent who think that the voluntary sector can successfully go it alone. Americans do not believe that government is irrelevant; they want a government that acts intelligently to revitalize citizenship and civic life. But they are not yet convinced that their government is doing that very well.
In his first inaugural address, President Clinton declared that there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be fixed by what is right with America. And there is so much that is right. We care about our country; we know that freedom works, but only when family and community bonds are strong; we are willing to contribute to the community when we believe that our efforts will make a difference. Our task - the task of political leaders and ordinary citizens alike - is to build on these strengths by renewing an ethic of reciprocity throughout our civic life.
William A. Galston is Professor, School of Public Affairs, the University of Maryland, and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. From 1993 until 1995, he was Deputy Assistant for Domestic Policy for President