Divided America, the archipelago
Our future needs ‘bridges’ to unite us
English poet John Donne wrote that “no man is an island,” but a new survey shows that America is becoming more and more of an archipelago. We have fewer “bridges” of shared values connecting us today. And the bridges that do exist are different based on race.
Does it matter? Is it good for our society? What role do ethics, character and culture play in this divergence?
According to a survey of 1,015 American adults by the Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation and public opinion consultancy Heart+Mind Strategies, Americans’ faith in themselves is growing even as their faith in the nation’s institutions fades.
“Rugged individualism” has long been synonymous with America. But, historically, the potential downsides of this societal model have been kept in check through a shared social contract to promote and protect the common good, rooted in strong civic institutions. Institutions such as family, religion, education, media and trusted government typically have inspired cooperation and charity in an otherwise individualistic nation.
Eroding trust
That is changing. The importance we once placed on strong, external, civic institutions is shifting inward.
In the survey, when asked to describe themselves, most (58%) offer personal attributes like being caring, friendly or hardworking. Few volunteered external identifiers like race (3%), gender (11%), age (12%) or sexual orientation (0%).
The focus on personal identity also extends to how most Americans find their moral compass today. Seven in 10 say their “ethics and morals” come from within, not from something “outside of and larger than” themselves.
All the while, trust in government and media has eroded — fewer than 1 in 3 Americans in the survey express any real trust in these entities.
Most (57%) say we are failing to build confidence in our public institutions. Decline in religious affiliation and frustration with education, health care and the criminal justice system also have been well documented.
In the 1830s, visiting French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans collectively believed “that, for the present, their own democratic institutions prosper, while those of other countries fail.”
Nearly two centuries on, de Tocqueville could not fairly conclude the same. That shared faith in our institutions and shared purpose in uplifting ourselves through them have eroded.
Overall, the survey shows that Americans have made self-definition and self-determination their driving value. It is true in how we see ourselves. It is true in how we find our definition for what is right and what is wrong.
Race is a factor
Taken to the extreme, this dynamic threatens the culture built by the Founders of our democratic republic.
But while Americans shift inward, they also worry that society is fraying and lament its apparent decline.
Americans in our poll recognize the danger of losing a shared commitment to the common good. Half (49%) of the country still believes that shared values and ethics is one of the most important characteristics of a healthy and well-functioning society.
Even more (55%) believe we are failing to instill a strong moral and ethical code in our youth.
Most can see something is off, and race is a factor. For example, nearly two-thirds of whites (61%) say instilling morals in young people is declining compared with less than half of Black respondents (46%), Asians (44%) and Hispanics (41%).
To remedy the situation, most Americans support focusing our efforts to provide equal opportunity (58%), not achieve equal outcomes (9%). We still enjoy this shared value at the heart of the American experiment.
Interestingly, large numbers among all racial groups say we are doing poorly with racial equality and equality before the law. But the importance placed on those issues differs based on race, with Black respondents valuing legal and racial equality more than liberty. Whites prize liberty over equality and justice.
Life experience in America drives this racial divide over the meaning of “opportunity.” Personal liberty is the American ideal when the color of your skin does not shape your equality in society. But personal liberty cannot be paramount if equality is not evident in your experience due to a characteristic as intrinsic to identity as race.
It seems, as Nelson Mandela remarked, “where you stand depends on where you sit.” Your relative social position shapes your views of society.
Personal freedom, opportunity
The survey affirms this point, although in a nuanced manner often overlooked in our daily discussions about the American dream.
For instance, the poll suggests that whites believe liberty is a precondition for opportunity whereas Black respondents believe equality is a precondition for liberty.
It is not that we see different overall paths, but rather that many Black Americans have not yet realized the precondition of equality and therefore do not give liberty primacy. White respondents are often not aware this additional step is even required.
To heal, to grow, to keep our system vibrant, we must both restore a shared faith in and confidence of all our social institutions and directly address equality of opportunity irrespective of race or ethnicity.
This will help to restore the collective belief that we all can gain from and give to society and its institutions — and impart a shared commitment to liberty, equality and justice. Only then can belief in self freely operate toward the greater good in society.
When American “individualism” operates on genuinely shared values of liberty and personal freedom for all races, the laws and systems of government and society we design will uphold and reinforce these common values.
To do that, our civic institutions must inspire, lead and change to be worthy of the public’s renewed faith.
Gerard Robinson, vice president for education at the Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation, is a former Virginia Education secretary. Maury Giles is the chief growth officer at Heart+Mind Strategies in Reston, Virginia.