Tag Archives: #freedom meaning

Past and Future

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Americans have an extraordinary history and heritage as a nation—a vision and exemplary model for governance which are unprecedented in the world.  As citizens, it is an honor to be responsible for this.  We are called to ensure a future that is free, just, and constructive. 

We are also challenged by the shadow of a violent and contentious past, and now the looming threat of a multitude of crises.  We can easily lose ourselves in self-doubt and endless recrimination—forever relitigating the details of a very human past.  But learning from the past is made real by living our best intentions into the future.

Americans cannot afford to compromise a commitment to an honorable future.  While it is quite true that responsibility depends upon truthfulness, the future also depends on the maturity, understanding, and generosity of spirit that will enable the United States to secure civil order and a free society.

We are Americans; we can do this together.

As individuals, there is but one way forward—personally and without constraint–and this is within our own local communities.  It is for this reason that I have challenged us all to rise above our differences, to engage with one another in the authentic dialogue necessary for problem-solving.

The necessities of shared needs cannot be compromised.  Safety and survival will soon require that we think about what we can accomplish by working together.

Doing this effectively will allow communities to address the future constructively.

We find ourselves confronted today by extraordinary circumstances, a multitude of dangerous and deepening crises.  And yet, this narrow place in American history presents an unprecedented opportunity.

We must rise to the next level, having no choice but to turn to the future with clear-eyed intentionality.

Herein lies the importance of knowing and understanding our neighbors; listening to one another with genuine interest despite our differences.  The failure to engage constructively will threaten the future as threats grow.

The number and diversity of crises confronting us is unparalleled.  Most of us know that something has changed.  The experience of normalcy has evaporated.  Our lives are disrupted and the end is nowhere in sight.

The world is experiencing dramatic structural change.  The rapid development of digital technology without accountability, exponential population growth, the loss of farmland and access to clean water, unprecedented weather—all this imposes on our lives even if it is happening elsewhere.

This is inevitable and no one’s fault.  That it has generated confusion and divisiveness is hardly surprising.  It is natural to look for someone to blame, but this is not useful.

Will we pull ourselves together as Americans did during World War 2, to make America whole?

In the midst of rapidly changing conditions, in a world confronted by hardship and awash with fear, we are forced to discipline ourselves as responsible, trustworthy people. 

The foundation for well-being is trust.  This is the secret of integrity in inter-personal relationships, in communities and in nations.

Dependable neighbors may soon become our only source of security.  We need to know how to make this work, and it begins with ourselves.  We might need to be trustworthy even when no one else notices or reciprocates.

It is true that trust lives in relationships.  It cannot exist in isolation.  And, yes, good-will is helpless if the relations between us remain unchanged.  However, trustworthiness is personal and in fact begins with ourselves!

To establish true community, we must turn away from the impersonal collectivism of mass society—to represent our real selves in authentic relationships.

We prove ourselves ready for community by living genuinely with others as dependable, trustworthy co-workers and neighbors.

Each of us is responsible independently.  No one can do this for us.

Tom.

You may watch for the next post on or about June 4.

A note for new readers: A project description and several sample chapters from the forthcoming book are posted in draft at the top of the homepage.

Civilization?

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Human civilization has deep historical roots, and stories that teach us of both its values and its failures.  But, are we in danger of losing it?  Civilization does not wait for other people to “do something”.  It does not depend on government, or on “leaders” who promise to save us.  And, if we allow hotheads to tear civilization down—out of fear or foolishness—it could be centuries before it might be rebuilt.

Surely we know a free and prosperous society can only be sustained when we take responsibility for it.  Civilization depends on each of us to take action in our own communities.

Freedom requires responsibility.  This is a personal choice, and it can only express itself in action.  There can be no safety, no problem-solving, and no accountability without cooperation. 

Everything we need and everything we do depends on some form of cooperation.

We all need to live in a place where our neighbors and fellow citizens cooperate in ways that keep us safe and make things work.

Reclaiming the future will require a willingness to work with our neighbors to meet shared needs and resolve local problems—despite our differing values and views.  This has always been what America is about.

It will take energy and a positive attitude to get us there. 

The way forward is challenging because we need to understand the people around us, and to have the patience and forbearance to bring them along.

Working with other people can be one of the hardest things we ever do.  Our differences come from differing life experiences and personal hardships.  Yet we share many of the same hopes and fears.

What makes cooperation possible?  How different are we, really?  Everyone needs to feel safe, and we all need to believe in the future.

We need to learn how to be good listeners.  We have talked about this here before.  Most of us are used to listening for reacting and arguing.  This is not practical if we want to live in a safe community.

How then should we listen?  If we want to work well with others it is necessary to actually understand them.  There really is no alternative.

Understanding does not require agreement.  No way!  Understanding allows us to know our neighbors and to negotiate effectively.

When we open lines of effective communication, it becomes possible to make decisions involving specific needs.  It opens the door to constructive action.

There will always be some who refuse to cooperate.  We can expect this.  So, why should we try to help neighbors who see no purpose in engaging with us?

Why?  We are living in a society that is coming apart.  The dangers are real.  Institutions are crumbling.  Mental health is breaking down.  Fear and confusion reign.

The effort to make communities safe will encounter many who are distrustful.  Safety requires that we stay connected with them.

However, there will also be thinking people who care about the future.  We need to find them.  We might need to look under a few rocks, but they are nearby—wherever we are. 

And we must take action.  We cannot wait.

We need to know all our neighbors, and to maintain friendly relations to the best of our ability.  In a crumbling social order, we cannot afford to live with alienation next door—not down the street or around the corner.

Humanity is discovered through authentic dialog.  Safety is gained through cooperation.

Nothing will happen if we sit on our hands.

Tom.

Please note: You may watch for the next post on or about March 1. An introduction to the forthcoming book, and several chapters are available at the top of the homepage.

The Ground of Freedom

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We value our freedom despite the constraints and responsibilities that come with it.  We would like to do as we wish without interference.  And the feeling stays with us because, unlike any other creature, we possess free will.

Free will can make us aware of any imaginable possibility. We can choose to be kind or ugly, constructive or destructive, good or evil.  Whatever we choose to do, we could just as well choose not to do.

Without choice there could be no morality.

We make choices every day.  Some are very important to us—activities and relationships, intentions and goals which will influence or constrain future opportunities.

The choice of career, of a love-mate, and the decisions to have a family, to stand by a friend, or to embrace a religious faith—all of these determine (and limit) future choices.  If we are adult people, we find our choices constrained by our sense of responsibility as members of family, community, and society.

If we wish to strengthen relationships or succeed in an endeavor, we will act with “response-ability”.  Because our “ability to respond” will have consequences.

Without responsibility we remain essentially isolated—denied the sense of belonging that defines our place in the world, measures personal integrity and enriches perspective.

It is for this reason that thinking people recognize the interdependence of freedom and responsibility.  Genuine freedom is simply not possible otherwise.

Understanding this allows us to live with purpose.  It informs us of the contours of justice that give structure to human reality.  It provides the context in which freedom can be sought and actualized.

Family, friendships, community, and society—these provide the context in which personal identity becomes conscious.  Together they form the reality in which freedom can be found and exercised. If we are to know who our friends and neighbors really are—their dignity, their hopes and fears, and the experience that influences them—we need to engage in authentic dialog.  We need to know how to listen for the purpose of understanding.

Ethical standards and respectful behavior concern order and relationships.  Both safety and comfort depend on this.  Civilized life is relational and can only be secured by engaging in meaningful dialog.

Making morals and making community are, it has been said, a single dialectical process.  Living in the world calls us to understanding, commitment and responsibility.

Yes, working with people can be the most challenging thing we do.  But, creating a free society—and a safe, friendly neighborhood—can make it very rewarding.

If we wish for constructive lives, we will surely seek the freedom that is our birthright.  And we will recognize the foundations for freedom in the finite limitations of existence.

We are finite beings living in a finite world.  This is the nature of reality and the ground of freedom.  The social order in a civilized society serves a similar purpose.  These are givens.

Without structural limits, which include our own moral values as well as the civil constraints of an orderly society, we would have no capacity to exercise intelligence and direct our energy, to explore new ideas or undertake new ventures.

For the individual, the ability to exercise discipline overcomes the limitations imposed by nature and society. The discipline to leverage our inspiration against the constraints we encounter provides the power to actualize our freedom and transcend material challenges.

We cannot leap without a firm foundation beneath our feet. We cannot fly without wings.

Discipline and limitation are, indeed, the ground of freedom.

Tom.

You may watch for the next post on or about February 1.

Finding the Door

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The need for safety, and the urgency to secure food for our table have become paramount concerns.  Our many problems are not simple.  We find ourselves facing the onslaught of multiple crises and unprecedented complexity.  Never before has humankind encountered such challenges. 

Our lives depend on a complex global economy, a fragile supply chain, and an international monetary system based solely on confidence.  We watch apprehensively as the world’s population explodes exponentially, even as food production dwindles.  And, hidden in plain sight, the interdependent digital systems which manage and coordinate almost everything we need, can be easily disrupted.

Long-time readers will recall my concerns about the capricious unpredictability of complexity.  This is a new threat we have never before encountered. Already confronted with personal hardship and civil disorder, we must also brace ourselves for the threat of complexity—the shockingly unexpected.  

The hand-holds to stability are loosening even as we reach for them.  As the horizon darkens, where can we find the door to stability?  How will we build a future we can accept and believe in?

My argument that dependable neighbors are essential and that safe, functional communities can actually be created, has usually fallen on deaf ears.  Sadly, this is difficult to imagine in today’s America.  Yet it is something we have had before.  America was built on the foundation of coherent local communities, and we can learn how to do this again.

The wholesale destruction of communities by the industrial revolution, and the subsequent domination of a faceless corporate society, has had major consequences.  The loss has blind-sided Americans, and I believe it to be the primary cause of growing distrust.

Throughout history, local communities have been the place where human beings develop our personal identity and where we learn what it means to belong somewhere.  This is where we build relationships and gain confidence in our ourselves as individuals.

Americans are intelligent and quite capable of thinking rationally.  But for many generations we have been enveloped in mass society—a corporate-dominated reality.  And, mass society has its own impersonal interests which are not our own.

Today true community very rarely exists.  We don’t know what this is.  Political community is often the only community we have, and partisan politics are defined by division and conflict.

Most of us barely know our next-door neighbors.

Few of us live in a neighborhood that provides the safety and organized coherence that communities have provided in the past.  While we may not be aware of everything that has been taken from us, we certainly know the uncertainty, insecurity and alienation that the loss of community has caused. 

Hurtful experiences are common in this uprooted reality, especially among young people. The natural consequences of resentments and alienation are often misconstrued as disrespect or disloyalty or worse.  But blame gets us nowhere.

Any of us might behave just as desperately if we were faced with similar insults and injustices over long periods of time. Let’s think before we draw conclusions.  If we are ever to understand people, we need to ask questions, and to listen with the intention of understanding.

Nothing I am saying requires us to alter our personal values or views.  But a civilized future can only be built with civility, respectfulness, and responsibility.

We learn that people are trustworthy and dependable by allowing ourselves to know them as friends and neighbors. The best way to learn what people are made of—and to actually build trust—is to work with them shoulder-to-shoulder, meeting shared needs and resolving local problems.

This is the door to safety.  Each of us is capable of walking through it on our own, without regard for the confusion or misbehavior of others.

Yes, building safe local communities will be challenging.  But we can learn this skill, just as we have many others.  Practical guidance is available, and I intend to assist.

However dark the future seems, each of us possesses a lamp we have the power to light. Even the smallest lamp will dispel the darkness, which has no existence of its own.

Tom

Note to readers:  You may watch for the next post on or about January 1.  A project description and several sample chapters from the forthcoming book are available in draft at the top of the homepage.

The Road to Liberty

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We often make assumptions about the meaning of liberty.  But have we considered its questions and requirements?  Can we truly embrace meaning without examining its foundation?

I’ve been challenging you to seek true liberty, rather than the benefits we suppose it will provide.  And, I have focused on the role of the virtues in the function of the United States Constitution, a concern argued forcefully by the Founders.

Some people think a concern for the virtues is tiresome or frivolous.  Who are these people?  How do they live?  What do they know?

Do we expect to defend liberty without principles or conditions?

The Founders identified personal virtues required by the Constitution.  They knew the Constitution, which imposed almost no limits on personal freedom, could not function without ethical behavior on the part of citizens.

They said so in writing.

Why?

At a time when the horizon is darkening, when growing disruptions dominate our lives, the virtues take on renewed significance.  They include trustworthiness, dependability, patience, forbearance, cooperation and courage—among others.

And the most important is truthfulness.  Because truthfulness is the foundation for all the rest.

While these are personal principles requiring personal commitment, civilization itself depends on them.

For Americans who care about the future this is a practical matter.  The virtues are the fundamental requirements of a civilized, prosperous and secure order.

But they are more than this.  They are markers that identify human character.  They inform us of the inherent attributes of a persons’ beliefs and intentions, the moral and ethical basis for their actions and reactions.

I suggest that these are firm attributes among those who have chosen to serve their country and their neighbors with selfless intent.

Words are not enough.  Honesty and dependability, patience and good will, are revealed in action—the behavior of trustworthy people.

There is nothing we need now more than trust.

And, yes, there is a bottom line:  The truly trustworthy person knows this about him- or herself!  We are trustworthy when no one is watching; truthful when no one else will know the difference.

We show patience and forbearance when no one else would do so.

The virtues bring our lives into harmony with the way of the world when things are right.  They are consistent with justice.  They are the foundations of order.

Who would imagine that liberty could be built on the foundation of anything else?

It is long past time to stop listening to gossip and easy talk.  We need to turn to our neighbors, whoever they may be, and get down to the real work.

Local communities are the building-blocks of civilization, and the virtues are the means that govern outcomes.  It is time for action.

Nothing will change until each of us takes initiative.

We cannot know the needs of a neighborhood, a community or town, without engaging directly and respectfully with our neighbors.

Each of us is responsible for investigating the truth—or withholding judgment if this is not possible.  We cannot afford to see the world through the eyes of others, or to act on unproven assumptions.

Nothing—no person and no problem—can be understood without asking questions.  Dialog and perseverance pave the road to liberty.

If we are not ready for the real work of living in a civilized society, what are we complaining about?

Tom.

You may watch for the next post on or about July 4.

Note to new readers: An introduction to the coming book and several sample chapters are available in draft at the top of the homepage:  www.freedomstruth.net.

Freedom’s Foundation

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Principles are often debated, (and sometimes thrown about in combat), without consideration for their foundation in reality.  How deeply do we think about principles?  When we choose to embrace a principle or lay claim to values, do we consider the meanings and interpretations with which each is understood by others?  Does this matter?

In the previous post I invited you to think realistically about the essential character of “truth” and the importance of truthfulness.  We all depend on our understanding of what is true or false to get through life.

Everyone thinks what they believe is reasonable and true.  Yet it is often apparent that our assumptions differ from those of others.  While we assume that our perceptions of truth are valid, we are often reminded that we have many differences with one another, sometimes slight, sometimes quite significant.

And we all live by principles, sometimes without even thinking about them.  Is it possible they can be influenced by inaccurate assumptions or untrustworthy influences?

If our perceptions of truth are influenced by tradition, or news sources, or social media—how do we know what ‘our truth’ is really made of? How do we judge the foundations for our beliefs—the knowledge and reasoning that supports certainty?  The human world embraces innumerable personal truths!

So, what does this tell us about the reality of truth?  Is it possible there is actually a single foundational truth—a foundation for what is real?

Surely none of us can lay claim to understanding such a fundamental truth, yet it most assuredly must exist.  The world of existence could not function without such a unity.

One principle that matters to all of us is freedom, a principle that often seems elusive.  Realistically, life’s many obstacles and constraints can be oppressive. Yet, freedom is a deeply valued principle.  And so, we choose to respond to life’s constraints with maturity and self-control.

There are many principles we cherish despite their challenges.  Honesty, civility, and generosity of spirit are among the most essential for living and working with others. These may not be ‘rules’ in the usual sense, but they represent values we cannot do without.  They lead to trust, and a genuine freedom that rises above limitations and hardship.

When the horizon is darkened; when safety and trust are threatened by chaotic and unpredictable conditions, we can always turn to fundamentals—to patience, forbearance, dependability, cooperation, and most of all, to truthfulness.

Some folks think organized cooperation is impossible.  But it will be impossible to ensure safety or meet basic needs if our differences prohibit collaboration.

Yes, there will always be some people who are afflicted by selfishness and arrogance.  But the future depends on the character of true Americans—a people who have risen to their tests for many generations.

Americans are smart, resilient, and creative.  In the difficult years ahead, I expect we will gain a deeper understanding of freedom.  We will respond with a maturity gained through hardship and necessity.

We live in a reality defined by limitation and challenges.

All form has structural limits and all limits provide the means for leverage.  It is the consistent dependability of this reality that allows us to launch ourselves into new frontiers of learning and experience, to control the direction of our efforts, to instigate, organize, create.  

Without the constraints of necessity we would have no capacity to direct our energy and intelligence, to explore new ideas or undertake new ventures.

Our ability to exercise discipline overcomes the limitations imposed by nature and society.  And the discipline to leverage inspiration against the constraints we encounter in life provides the power to actualize our freedom and transcend the difficulties in life.

We cannot leap without a firm foundation beneath our feet.  We cannot fly without wings.

It is in the encounter between discipline and necessity that we find the ground of freedom.

Tom

Please look for the next post on or about June 2.

A note to new readers:  Blog posts are usually adapted from the forthcoming book and appear on both at the main website and on the Facebook page.  To receive emailed alerts click on the Follow button at http://www.freedomstruth.net.

Safety, Self-reliance, Responsibility

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There are reasons why safety and self-reliance are interdependent.  And both depend on trustworthy neighbors.  Local communities are where we have the most control and the most to lose.  The neighborhood we live in, whatever it may look like, is where social problems become personal problems, where needs must be met, and where safety is essential.

When the going gets tough, our neighbors will matter to us.  Many Americans are ignoring this reality of civilized life, and they do so at their peril. Today as the world unravels around us, we are confronted with necessity.

No longer can we depend on emergency services or well-stocked stores.  No longer can we wait for someone else to do what needs to be done.

Self-reliance is a personal attitude and commitment.  But it also depends on community.  We need each other. Each of us is called to step forward, to build dependable relationships, to patiently encourage one another in constructive action.

Making things happen will mean listening to our neighbors and learning to cooperate.  This is never easy to do and we are not used to it.  We face a steep learning curve. But we can do it!

Necessity can only be met with initiative and steadfast patience.  With a positive attitude and a readiness to persevere despite the bumps and bruises, we will prevail.

Safety comes with unity of purpose.  It emerges gradually in working relationships that cultivate trust and meet common needs.  Just as we learn by doing, so also do we earn trust—reaching out across differences of tradition, politics, and experience.

My forthcoming book will provide practical guidance to meet these challenges.  This will include the means for creative decision-making in small groups.  Aggregating diverse perspectives, interests and skills will maximize both safety and productivity.

Effective decision-making takes advantage of the knowledge and thinking of a diversity of perspectives and inputs.

If we listen to one another with inquisitive interest, drawing out every possible nuance, decisions will often produce more than anyone expected.

As I have often said, there will be no need to alter our values or views.  Agreement will only be necessary concerning a common purpose or the problem at hand.  In the process, however, we will come to know and better understand one another.

Dependable alliances and respectful collaboration can emerge where we least expect them.

Leadership will be needed of a certain kind, and this involves each of us.  Responsibility for personal initiative falls to every person.  It will be deeds and not words, giving and not taking, that create safety and move us forward.

The most effective leaders will be those who serve with quiet restraint and minimal drama.  At the end of the day, the best leader might not even be noticed—because the community will know that “we did this ourselves”.

Citizens who have experienced trust, who understand moral responsibility and constructive action—and who recognize the very high stakes involved—will build these foundations. 

What is essential is that Americans stand together selflessly, making firm our commitment to such values as will secure the future, and contribute to a free and just nation.

We must refocus our vision with such strength of purpose that partisan politics is powerless to subvert or degrade our intentions or integrity.

Tom

You may watch for the next post on or about January 31.

A note to readers: An introduction to the coming book and several sample chapters are available in draft at the top of the homepage.  Please take note of Chapter One: American Crucible.

Liberty and Me

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Our personal individuality is something we take for granted today.  But this was not always so.  Individual freedom was a new and treasured idea in colonial America.  Many of those who came from England and Europe felt they were escaping tyranny.  And the institution of slavery had an imposing presence as well.  Colonial America knew what it did not want.

Concern with individualism, a deep-seated reaction against the autocratic rigidity of Medieval Europe, was dominant on both sides of the Atlantic in the 18th century.

An active sense of individuality encourages intellectual and artistic creativity.  It motivates entrepreneurial initiative.  And it led to the immensely productive energy of the American spirit.

It also opens the door to undisciplined free-will, to the potential for unrestrained violence, and the rampant materialism we see today.

Self-centeredness came to be defended as the purpose of life.  Breaking free from society to assert oneself without restraint was venerated as a romantic ideal.   The Lone Ranger became the quintessential American hero.

This begs a question!  Can freedom be idolized and defended without accepting responsibility for what makes it possible?

In other words, can freedom, as an ideal, respect the integrity and well-being of the society that respects and protects freedoms?

Individual liberty has sometimes been associated with egotism and selfishness. But the concept was originally conceived as respect for the validity of the views and experience of the individual within his or her own sphere, and the ideal that each of us should be encouraged to develop our own natural gifts.

By 1776 and the founding of the United States, “enlightenment thinking” had crystallized into the conviction that an ideal future civilization would bring freedom and prosperity to the world through the progress of science and rational governance.

To many the United States of America came to embody that promise.  The practical implications were, however, swept under the carpet. 

The limits to freedom imposed by physical reality and the constraints of a complex society might seem obvious.  But many of our compatriots appear unaware of the practical responsibilities that liberty implies.

This is not a simple problem.  We face limits to our freedom every day.  We care for our families, whatever that requires, and cooperate with the requirements of our employment.

In addition, we commit ourselves willingly to civic responsibilities, athletic teams or dance recitals for our kids, charitable organizations and religious communities, all of which can take up most of our wakeful hours.

And the hard realities of structural change and a multitude of converging crises are suddenly closing in around us.  Everything is changing.

Will we simply flounder about trying to place blame?  Or will we step up to necessity?  This is a truly historic challenge.

Many things can chafe in life, particularly the actions of other people.  Domineering and dysfunctional institutions are aggravating, especially in a time of deteriorating social stability.  Yet, human beings are quite capable of rising above our difficulties to create meaning and purpose in the community we live in.

Americans in the 21st Century face simple questions in complex circumstances:  What do we value?  What is it that humanity gained with the founding of the United States?  How do we wish to take it forward?

Will we step forward to create a coherent future with our neighbors despite our differences and the many hardships we face? Without moral responsibility and respectful dialogue, undisciplined free-will leads to disarray.

Let’s pull ourselves together to correct the misinformation, miscommunication, and useless negativity that subverts good will and our best intentions. Truly, an inquiring mind and respectful attitude are of greater importance today than ever before. 

Patience, trustworthiness, and dependability are the hallmarks of a safe community.  They do not require sameness of religion, politics, or philosophy. Americans do not need to agree on these things in order to collaborate with neighbors on specific projects to address shared goals. 

Communities that persevere together can learn the ways of constructive action—engaging everyone in the efforts to create safety, to resolve neighborhood problems and meet local needs.

I never said it would be easy.

We are adults.  We are capable.  We can do it.

Tom

You may watch for the next post on or about January 2. 

Note to readers:  Links to an introduction to the coming book and several sample chapters can be found at the top of the homepage.

Freedom and the Sources of Individuality

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Personal autonomy is a precious thing.  How can we broaden and enrich this freedom?  Is it simply allowed, or constrained, by the society we live in?  Or does it rather depend on our mental attitude—and what we make of it? What translates independence and autonomy into character and purpose?

This can be a penetrating and thought-provoking question.  And the answer might be influenced by things we sometimes fail to consider—our family, our community, and our cultural heritage.

We like to think of ourselves as self-possessed and in control.  But there can be unrecognized influences at work in ourselves which have their origins in personal experience or cultural roots.

Ignoring this possibility does not make them go away.

I am interested in exploring this question as a white American because that’s what I am, and because of my roots.  The European heritage of white Americans is, for better or worse, the founding heritage of the United States.

And, yes, the question does draw us into complicated territory.  Certainly, the ethnic differences in the United States raise interesting questions.

It is apparent, for example, that indigenous American Indian and African-American cultures are far more community-based than is the dominant white American culture. Could it be they are closer to their historical indigenous roots than are white folk?

And we should remind ourselves that the breakdown of the institutions of family and community—fragmented by modernity—has had profound consequences across every cultural divide.

I want to explore another influence here, however: the cultural history of the European peoples who colonized and founded the United States.

The influence of this extraordinary past remains hidden in almost everything about America, and it colors the experience of every citizen. Understanding where America came from can reveal much about where we now find ourselves.

So, why are white Americans so concerned about freedom, rights, and autonomy?  These ideas do have a history.

Thinking people first began to question the institutional dogmas and restrictiveness of medieval European culture in the 15th century. The emergence of self-conscious individuality gradually freed human initiative and creativity from stifling constraints and overbearing conformity.

The realization of individuality led to growing resistance to the rigid fettering of patriarchal families, religious dogmatism, and the social and economic control of trade guilds. It also led to a lessening of family coherence and the weakening of community roots.  And this isolation from the social foundations of association and identity had consequences.

The shift away from family and community was slow at first.  But it intensified greatly with the industrial revolution and in the formless uniformity of mass society.

Why should this matter to us now? The slow fragmentation of family and community life has dominated American history. 

This is our story.  What shall we make of it? Freedom is not found in a wasteland.  Autonomy is meaningless in a vacuum.

Individuality and identity are grounded in context.  They take shape in childhood and early adulthood. They develop in a supportive environment—and with the diverse associative opportunities that are only available in functional communities.

We are human, intelligent and multi-dimensional.  And we need roots.

The destruction of authentic community by mass society, and the disintegration of family life that inevitably followed, disrupted the natural processes for developing identity and personhood.

This is among the heaviest burdens inflicted by modernity. But nothing forces us to accept it. Creating authentic communities will not be easy, but Americans are fully capable of learning how to do this.

First must come recognition that freedom depends on responsibility.

Second, we must understand that safety and dependability require trust—the gist of constructive working relationships.

“The greatest single lesson to be drawn from the social transformations of the 20th century,” Robert Nisbet wrote, “from the phenomena of individual insecurity… is that the intensity of men’s motivations toward freedom and culture is unalterably connected with the relationships of a social organization that has structural coherence and functional significance.”

“Separate man from the primary contexts of normative association…, and you separate him not only from the basic values of a culture but from the sources of individuality itself.”

Tom.

You may watch for the next post on or about November 22.

Dear readers:  An introduction and several chapters from the coming book are available in draft at the top of the homepage.  Please note “The Individual and Society”, which addresses the ideas introduced in this post.

American Identity, Plural Values

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Accelerating change has been apparent in the United States for most of our lives.  Today the consequences are profound.  And, the coronavirus pandemic is masking this pre-existing reality.  Can we take the long view and try to understand the big picture? Surely, we should not allow COVID to distract us from recognizing what has been happening in the United States.  But the truth is complex.  The reality is not simple.

It is easy to think about change superficially in political terms.  But politics are a consequence, not a cause.   What has actually happened—socially, economically? How has our society been changing over time, and how has this influenced our national identity and character?  Has it altered our sense of who we are?

Hardships, uncertainties, and material losses have upended many lives.  Can we step back from this great testing to consider what it means for us?

In my view, we would do well to turn to what matters most to us—the values and principles and virtues that will keep our communities safe, our minds sane, and our integrity intact.  These are the foundations of personal identity and inner moral strength, and they are easily corrupted and befouled by an outwardly combative attitude.

The courage to respond to distrust or enmity with dignity and grace is not easy, but it will not compromise ones’ principles.  Holding fast to personal integrity allows self-respect, self-confidence, and responsibility.  It can facilitate problem-solving.

Where material devastation abounds, only a calm integrity can support thoughtful purpose.  Never has this been so important, whether it be for safety or sanity or the groundwork for negotiating the future. Our present difficulties in the United States are daunting.  They will not be resolved and the future cannot be secured without a positive attitude.

What is to be done?

We need safety, trustworthy neighbors, and truth we can depend on.  How can we work our way toward this?  Blaming and complaining gets us nowhere.

Local communities are places where basic needs must be met, and where constructive interaction is most possible.  Communities are where life actually takes place, where problem-solving can no longer be passed off to someone else, somewhere else.

Community is the seat of civilization.

Americans will need to relearn how to do this.

Impossible you say?  Think again my friends; we have no choice. There will be no quick fix.

I will offer a systematic approach to building functionally authentic communities in my forthcoming book. We will need to live our way into a future we can believe in.  No bluster, no smooth talk, no promises can be trusted; just hard work.   We can do this, and we need to do it for ourselves. 

Surely our first responsibility will be to accept the reality of our differences, and to negotiate honest means for practical problem-solving. Plural and conflicting values are an inevitable part of life, in families, in societies, in nations.  This has always been true.  Human beings have never agreed about values. 

Managing conflicting values—whether within ourselves or in our relationships—develops character and maturity. How we respond to a diversity of values is what defines a free society.  The acceptance of differences is an essential aspect of our national identity. 

Are we prepared to protect the freedoms of those who disagree with us?  No one should ask us to change our own values or views, and we should not.  Let’s not be diverted from constructive action by judgmental thinking.

The path to a principled stability begins within ourselves.  And the results will be apparent in the grace with which we work with others to make our communities safe.

The American story is one of visionary hopefulness, realized in fits and starts over the course of more than two centuries.  It has been part courageous and inspiring, and in other ways both baffling and troubling.  It is a work in progress.

If we wish to collaborate with one another to resolve basic problems, we will need to step aside from unproductive bickering, extricate ourselves from the wreckage, and rise above our differences—to face the imposing dangers that now confront us.

Tom

You may watch for the next post on or about October 25.

A note to new readers:  A project description and several sample chapters from the coming book are available at the top of the homepage.

Reaching for Resilience

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The pursuit of freedom and fairness in governance has a long and turbulent history.  The passion for liberty has set citizens against one another as well as against autocratic authority.  Reactions against insensitivity and unrestrained power in governance is a natural enough response.  Yet, we often find ourselves entangled with differing views about the meaning (and responsibilities) of liberty.

It is only relatively recently that the world has generally come to expect that governments should be responsive to the needs and interests of the plurality their citizens. And this poses interesting questions for those living in a constitutional republic with a democratic spirit. 

If we expect that elected officials should identify with the people who elected them, it follows that such a nation should not need to be protected from itself.  Surely a democracy would not exercise tyranny over itself.

As Americans well know, however, the notion that citizens have no reason to limit their power over themselves only seems reasonable to those who have no experience with popular government.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 recognized this danger and designed a decision-making structure which limits the ability of one faction to oppress another.  Neither a large majority nor a powerful minority can form an oppressive regime like those we see elsewhere in the world.

While this provides a legal structure, however, a functional government is impossible in the absence of cooperation to meet common needs and interests.

When there is uncompromising denial of the validity of an opposing side, governance is essentially brought to a halt. After two hundred years of experience, we know that “self-government” can be fragile, complicated, and emotionally taxing.

Throughout American history, liberty has generally implied the freedom to live our lives as we see fit, so long as we do not impose ourselves on the well-being of others. The United States Constitution is exceptional in imposing almost no limitations on citizens—beyond responsibility and civility.

But, where does this leave us in the face of our present difficulties?  A multitude of converging crises has us all on edge.

The world has long admired the generosity of spirit in the American character.  This is an American attitude; a way of thinking and being.  Regaining this spirit will require courage and determination.  And, we can begin with our neighbors.

However—this will only be possible with a readiness to honor another American virtue: The respect for plurality embodied in the Constitution.

When we are ready to discover our shared values, and to assess our differences with accuracy, we can start with our neighbors.

What is it we want?  It is in local communities that safety, dependability, and problem-solving become essential realities. Only when we tackle local needs and challenges together, shoulder-to-shoulder, can we truly represent what we are made of.

We can start with first things first:

1) To engage as neighbors with a commitment to ensure we have accurate information about one another.  This will involve the effort to recognize both shared values and real differences. 

2) To identify and prioritize local needs and problems, and then to negotiate the means for undertaking collaborative action while accommodating personal differences.

3) To identify the knowledge, skills, and experience we have available among ourselves—to support the community and do what needs to be done.

If we are committed citizens and mature adults, there is no reason we cannot maintain an attitude of civility and respectfulness.  No one needs to alter their values or views.

Community problems can be multi-layered and complex.  But our purpose is simple: to investigate the extent to which we can pursue constructive action as neighbors.

Addressing basic needs shoulder-to-shoulder will strengthen a community with the foundations for trust and dependability. 

Safety and survival may well depend on this, and no one will do it for us.

The three steps outlined above will soon become critical as oncoming crises multiply and circumstances deteriorate.  And, engaging in working relationships can also open doors to the future and influence the emergence of a mutually acceptable vision.  

We all possess the capacity to confront our challenges with grace and fortitude.  Only then can we meet friend and stranger alike with dignity, civility, and generosity of spirit.

Tom

You may watch for the next post on or about September 28.

Note to readers:  An introduction to the coming book and several sample chapters are available at the top of the homepage.

To Recover a Civilized Order

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The vibrant community-based society of pre-revolutionary America continued to flourish following independence.  With self-generated order came a sense of identity and belonging.  But, a hundred years later the loss of community and degradation of society were becoming apparent.

This decline unfolded with the gradual disappearance of cultural organizations, interest associations, churches, and craft guilds.  Without the mediating influence of extended families and civic associations, little remained to support social identity and stability for individual or society.

In the absence of a stable foundation in local communities, the commitment to moral responsibility loosened.

Eventually Americans sought community wherever they could find it—within the protection of large labor unions, in the less personal corporate world, and in the functions of a growing central government.

The rise of individualism in European culture since the middle-ages had accompanied a gradual diminishment of the civil society that gives life to communities. In America this trend was halted briefly by a surge of community-based activism.  But, the blossoming of independent local and regional energy was lost in the faceless momentum of industrial society.

The results became clear following the First World War.  Measures intended to ensure uncompromising support for the war effort gave President Woodrow Wilson virtually total power.  Wilson intended a quick return to normal three years later, but the damage was done.

The widespread presence of government agents tasked with rooting out dissent led to pervasive distrust.  Social cohesion was severely weakened throughout the country.  The perceptions of the American people and the place of the federal government in the American mind were permanently altered.

What is to be learned?

Active involvement in community life does not limit individual freedom or self-fulfillment.  On the contrary, local communities are the foundation of traditional conservatism. If we are to recover a civilized order, an active community-based civil society needs to be cultivated.  Here it is that young people learn values and gain a sense of identity.

The spontaneous civic life that characterized early America degenerated over time into the isolation and materialism of suburbia, scattered families, and uninspiring employment. 

Americans have had a reputation the world over as generous, kind, big-hearted people–despite hardships and controversies.  Yet, the truth has been inconsistent. An uneven trend toward inclusiveness since the Civil War stands in contrast to an undercurrent of disharmony and an attitude that defies accountability.

Who are we, really?  Who do we want to be?

Clearly, the humanity that embraces mutual respect and moral responsibility will remain ever vulnerable to self-centered interests. Failures of foresight and responsibility are visible across every social class, including the very wealthy.

Children are growing up without effective parenting or civilized values.  Every consecutive generation reaches maturity with less of the preparation needed to sustain a stable society. And, it does not end there.  Institutions we have depended upon are facing every form of bankruptcy; systems are breaking down; people are losing their grip.

How is it that we have lost our way, our sense of purpose, our understanding of the integrity of our place in the world? The answer is not simple, but it might be more personal than we realize.

“Everyone involved in the creation of the United States,” writes Charles Murray, “knew that its success depended on virtue in its citizenry – not gentility, but virtue. `No theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure,’ James Madison famously observed at the Virginia ratifying convention. `To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.”

“No free government, or the blessings of liberty,” Patrick Henry insisted, “can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.”

“In their various ways,” Charles Murray has observed, “the founders recognized that if a society is to remain free, self-government refers first of all to individual citizens governing their own behavior.”

Tom

You may watch for the next post on or about June 22.