THE AMERICAN DREAM
By Professor Jon Saul
Consider these statements in light of the documents the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights:
Western Law is based on liberty.
Liberty functions as a limiting factor in human existence.
Liberty means freedom BUT within the law only.
The law, liberty, is the boundary of each individual’s liberty.
The law, liberty, is the guarantor of every person’s freedom.
Western law is based on liberty – both limiting the actions of the individual and allowing the greatest range of freedom for the individual. Both of these functions are fulfilled at the same time.
According to natural rights theory, individuals “give up” absolute freedom to gain liberty in society. The starting point is always the individual: the individual mind, individual will, individual needs and desires. Western society has been built on this edifice.
And the American Dream came to symbolize democracy and freedom for the world. Anyone could come to America and become a success.
The entire 20th Century was a period during which more and more individuals populated the earth. In 1900, the world’s population was approximately 1.6 billion people. In 2000, there were 6 billion. Today, there are 8 billion people on the earth. There are more people alive today than ever before. Soon there will be more people alive than all those humans who had already lived and died, since recorded history.
The most outstanding quality of humans is their brains (opposable thumbs notwithstanding). In the evolutionary process, it is this feature of human that has experienced the most changes. Scientists and anthropologists draw distinctions among, for example, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens based on brain size as well as brain function, such as the gradual expansion of the frontal lobe used for language.
Language is the chief means by which we think. Intuition, it is true, is a fine source of knowledge, but putting the ideas, concepts, images into words definitely puts them into a decidedly human perspective.
It is the perspective of the individual that has dominated until now.
The point is that evolution is based on the survival of the fittest, designed to preserve the species. Once, this was a trait of the individual…the stronger, bigger, healthier, or wiser. Individuals dominated the pack, according to Darwin’s notions.
Inherent in this notion, at least to the 19th and 20th Century thinkers, was the key role of competition in this process. After all, competition fit so neatly into capitalism and democracy. Darwin, Jefferson and Smith were all in agreement on the role of the individual in evolution, politics and economics.
Now, today, tomorrow, with so many human brains functioning at the same time in the same place (earth), it possible that a critical mass has been reached (or if you prefer, a critical mass one day will be reached). It is no longer the outstanding individual who is most significant for species survival. In the past, persons of great abilities, such as those who were able to amass great power or those who could envision a different future or a different paradigm of understanding, were the best bet for the human species to survive and meet the challenges of daily life.
Today, and for the future, with so many human souls breathing air, drinking water and trying to stay healthy, rather than standouts, survival requires a much greater dollop of cooperation than competition. Instead of the individual thinking about the individual first (to survive), and, therefore, regarding the world as a competitive arena, the individual will begin (and has begun) to think of the species, all the people, everyone, first. Of course, with humans, this process begins with loyalty to a particular group (i.e., identity politics) and only later metamorphizes to loyalty to the whole (of the human race).
Cooperation must become the guiding principle, simply because of the sheer number of people who need to be housed, clothed, fed, kept healthy and, in some way, fulfilled.
The survival needs come first. Clean water. Clean air, Healthy food. Warmth in the cold. Today, and for all of history, the human race finds to difficult to achieve these for all the people alive. Simply to meet these needs, more cooperation is necessary.
National boundaries will disappear, are already disappearing, in the minds of humans. “We are all the same” is the rallying cry of the great mass of people. “We all want the same things. We are all alike. The differences among us are far less important than the elements we share.” These are the themes that echo throughout our society, our world, today.
Yet, it is the very last item in the list that houses human values. Human values, heretofore dominantly focused on the value of the individual’s drive, will continue to shift towards collaboration, support, teamwork, people fulfilling themselves together, rather than each fulfilling himself or herself individually.
The language we use in America is concrete evidence of this values shift. That is what “Political Correctness” is all about. People ask, “Who are the PC police?” The answer is, they are us.
All of us humans alive today want a world that is safe and secure. The enormous number of us humans desire food, clothing and shelter, not just for ourselves, but for everyone. The billions of us humans want to feel satisfied with our lives; we want to participate in a world based on peace, security and happiness.
Thus, perhaps, the PC Police changes definitions so that people’s understanding of reality will change. For when you change a person’s perspective, you change that person’s perception of reality. For human survival, in the future, human happiness can no longer be defined simply as individual success. That is no longer sufficient.
Individual people may be able to make themselves happy all by themselves, without any interaction with others, or simply by using other folks for their individual pleasure.
But all of the people cannot make themselves happy by themselves. Only all the people together can make everyone happy. That may be a hard thought to consider, but that is what the future may well be all about.
I used to tell my students that anyone could achieve the American Dream, but that everyone could not. A few years back, however, their responses to that statement changed. Instead of shaking their heads affirmatively, they looked at me quizzically. That epiphany, for me, meant that the definition of the American Dream was undergoing, had undergone, a dramatic change.
Today, we are a far cry from the Horatio Alger story of the individual pulling himself up by his bootstraps, or even Howard Roark or John Galt going it alone. These days, the American Dream must not only be available to everyone, it must be achieved by everyone. That sounds a lot like feeding, clothing, housing and providing health and a healthy environment, as well as fulfilling everyone.
By definition, this can only happen through cooperation, not competition. Think about it…