Caring for Our Fellow Citizens, Just Like Hamilton Did

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How can we truly become, as the late Amitai Etzioni put it, a "community of communities?" Or, put differently, how can we reclaim a kind of patriotism that engenders feelings of togetherness and societal cohesion? 

In an essay for the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead extols the virtues of a Hamiltonian-inspired patriotism. "Then, as now," Mead writes, "Americans must embrace a duty of care toward one another... And just as individual Americans have duties and ties to their family members that they do not have to the public at large, they have obligations to their fellow citizens that do not extend to all humankind." 

Conservatism today, in contrast to the kind of small-c conservatism embraced by Hamilton, is too often conflated with a obligation-free libertarianism. While the former puts emphasis on responsibility and duty, the latter jettisons all of that in favor of maximum autonomy and un-ordered liberty. 

A country of individuals pursuing their own self-interest without any conceptualization of the common good, however, will further fragmentate. We will continue to see our fellow citizens as strangers with little in common, save the pursuit of material maximization. If there is to be no spiritual re-evaluation of our civic priorities, we will descend into a Southern Italian-style amoral familism. 

"Hamilton," Mead continued, "risked his life for a nation that was just being born." But are we, nearly 250 years later, still determined to preserve this awesome inheritance through civic duty and a shared sense of patriotism? 

This will, firstly, require us to see each other as neighbors in a common fight for the creation and preservation of community. And, secondly, to view each other, not as ideological combatants, but as members of a uniquely pluralistic family. 

I'll admit, I was encouraged to see myriad displays of the American flag and chants of "U.S.A." at the Chicago Democratic National Convention. Democrats, I think it's fair to say, have wrestled with, what I call, a "patriotism problem." That is, they are often characterized as having an overly critical view of America, one that can almost be seen as disdainful. 

Here is a video of Ella Emhoff - daughter of Doug Emhoff and Kamala Harris - affectionately referring to her father as "Mr. U.S.A." 

This is a positive development. I hope it is sincere. 

Reclaiming Hamilton's vision is, I think, well within our ability, but it will require work. 

Some of my friends and colleagues, while appreciative of my writing on communitarianism and de-polarization, think this is all pie in the sky. I think they're wrong. Though I agree that we are at an emotionally over-wrought place in our shared American story, I do believe that there are greener pastures ahead. 

Give it time and patience, my friends.   

Comments

  1. JerseyPatriot1776September 3, 2024 at 12:16 PM

    You are an optimist. It is difficult to create a sense of national cohesion when there is a growing absence of a shared faith, a declining sense of a shared morality, and an increasingly heterogenous demography that has less and less of a shared history. If America is to reverse its decline, communal restoration is paramount. To do this, the majority of our people must return to living a life firstly grounded in Christian principles. Once this is accomplished (no easy task), only then can other issues be remedied (mass immigration, failing public schools, decline in family rising crime, consumerism, etc.).

    While it is good to see chants of "USA" at the DNC, it is hard to believe that those chanting possess genuine love of country when the very core of their movement is based on principles that are antithetical to the founding. We increasingly live in two Americas and are at a crossroads. We must choose if we are to return to our founding principles and make a laborious attempt to restore at least a semblance of what was once a strong nation, or if we are to embrace a new culture altogether - one rooted in tenets similar to autocratic Marxism.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Orwellian SonSeptember 3, 2024 at 12:24 PM

    The idea of the “melting pot” was pluribus unum, from the many, few. Without unity through “ Americanization” you have a hodgepodge of subcultures pulling the nation apart. The glue holding our nation together are things like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the blood of our youth lost in foreign wars. Without “pluribus unum” this nation will be a failed noble experiment.

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