I had hoped that this election would be a moment of national rebirth. I was hopeful that the Democratic Party could decisively defeat MAGA populism and set us on a new national path.
That obviously won’t happen. No matter who wins this election, it will be a close race and the country will remain evenly and bitterly divided.
Looking back, I think I expected too much from politics. When certain sociological and cultural realities are entrenched, there is not much that politicians can do to change the course of events. Both parties and their affiliated political committees have spent billions of dollars this year, but nothing has changed the race. Polls are just a starting point. If you fell asleep a year ago and woke up today, there would be no significant consequences except that it is Kamala Harris, not Joe Biden, who now leads the blue 50 percent of this country. I would hardly have missed it.
It is now clear to me that in most cases, politicians are not the master navigators guiding us to a new future. They are more like surfers riding waves created by people further down the core society.
Let’s look at America from 1880 to 1910. Early in that era, American society was thrown into turmoil by industrialization and uncontrolled capitalism, which produced staggering economic growth and untold human misery. Waves of immigrants swept across the country, transforming America’s urban areas. Political corruption was rampant in the city, and political incompetence was common in Washington, DC.
America faced a core challenge of civilization. The question is how to utilize the energy of industrialization to build a humane society.
America’s rebirth began in the hearts of people from all walks of life. People wanted change. “All history is the history of aspiration,” wrote Jackson Lears in his book about this period, The Rebirth of a Nation. He argues that in recent decades, a “pervasive yearning for rebirth, spiritual, moral, and physical in many ways, permeated national life and shaped American society in the 20th century.” It stimulated movements and policies that formed the basis of the
Some of the movements born of this yearning were sinister. Some believed that fake racial science and white supremacy could bring order to an unruly society. This was a time of lynching and racial terror.
But other movements have certainly produced rebirths as well. First, there was a cultural change. The brutal social Darwinist philosophy was replaced by a social gospel movement that emphasized community solidarity and service to the poor.
After the cultural change came a civic renaissance fueled by its ideals. For example, the settlement house movement, led by women like Jane Addams in Chicago, alleviated the plight of poor immigrant families. The temperance movement was also led primarily by women and sought to curb drinking and spousal abuse.
Unions arose to demand fair wages and an eight-hour workday. An environmental movement that not only protects nature but also fosters human vitality through contact with nature has spread. Moguls like JPMorgan at the pinnacle of society imposed orders on the corporate world to curb booms and busts. Philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller built libraries, museums, and universities.
By the time Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, society was full of change. The legislative program we call progressivism—to clean up local government, dismantle monopolies, and regulate clean food, water, and air—was born out of cultural and civic changes that were already underway. . The pattern was first cultural transformation, then civic revival, and then political reform.
Today we face another great civilizational problem. It is about how we can build morally united and politically functional democracies amidst radical pluralism and diversity.
There is no cultural movement that resembles the social gospel movement of the 1890s. Libraries are groaning with books diagnosing our divisions, but where are the ideals of a new society? Where are the values that motivate people to put down their phones and dedicate their lives to changing the world?
Some days I think the civic recovery part of this method is progressing well. Through my work with Weave: The Social Fabric Project, I met local leaders striving to rebuild unity and serve marginalized populations at the neighborhood level. But so far, such efforts have failed to reverse the devastating decline in social trust. Our country still lacks the sense of social and emotional safety that allows for productive conversations across partisan lines. We do not yet have a national creed or national narrative that provides common ground between competing belief systems.
A few years ago, there seemed to be a social movement that had the potential to bring about fundamental change, what I would call neo-progressivism. Groups like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter suddenly rose to prominence. Racial equity programs were spread across businesses and campuses. Politicians proposed ambitious policies such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Presidential candidates have vowed to decriminalize border crossing.
But neo-progressivism proved to be a dead end. DEI programs are going backwards or, like the University of Michigan, in disarray. Democrats don’t talk much about radical proposals like Medicare for All, which seemed a la mode in early 2020. The country is moving to the right on issues such as immigration and the economy, and Kamala Harris is in line with that trend.
This election is too early. It is occurring before the cultural and civic preconditions that could accelerate political and legislative reform are in place. It is completely unfair to ask Harris, who has been a presidential candidate for four months, to offer a comprehensive vision of national renewal under these circumstances. Politicians, especially when running for office, are professional opportunists and seek to please their voters. They are rarely far-sighted.
But this is a country that is forever reborn and reborn, from the 1770s to the 1830s to the 1860s to the 1890s to the 1930s to the 1960s to the 1980s. Today, we still enjoy a period of economic rebirth that has made America, in the words of The Economist, “the envy of the world.” Our social and political relationships are toxic and creating fatigue.
As Leers’ book suggests, a fundamental change must occur in people’s hearts and minds as they develop rich mindsets that encourage risk-taking and social experimentation. yeah. It is when we have before us a comprehensive social vision that evokes enormous energy at all levels of society.
In 1902, psychologist William James wrote a book about conversion experiences called The Varieties of Religious Experience. Sometimes, he writes, a belief or vision moves people in “the hottest places of human consciousness,” “the habitual centers of personal energy.” These visions spark great enthusiasm, challenge existing assumptions, and often lead to heroic actions.
In order for society as a whole to change, people in society need to want to change themselves. A self-righteous and self-satisfied nation that believes it is right will be stuck there forever.
