Sunday, June 29, 2014

Why we celebrate the United States of America

From time to time, I find myself having discussions with professionals in Europe.  “Why do Americans insist they’re No. 1?” one asked me.  “Why is that so important?”  Apparently, all Americans are ugly Americans and I am their spokesman. 

We do have a tendency to trumpet our successes and rationalize our failures, particularly when talking with someone from another country.  Our celebrations – such as the upcoming 4th of July – tend to be loud, boisterous and overwrought…   just like ugly Americans!

Unlike most European cultures, we don’t have centuries of tradition.  My neighbor, here in Fairport, NY, traces his lineage in England back 1000 years.  Despite his preference for an American way of life, he is steeped in British culture and values.  My correspondents in Europe – both Dutchman, one living in Norway and the other in Italy – grew up in a monarchy that has persisted since the 16th Century.

America hasn’t been around that long and the waves of immigrants that have come here are not steeped in American culture.  Indeed, my family came here less than 100 years ago.  We loudly proclaim our virtues to counterbalance the absence of generations of tradition. Our holidays, our school teachings and our political LEADERS serve to reinforce our cultural values – free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to private property – in a way that not only reminds but educates a diverse populace. 

One of my Dutch friends asked me if I thought that Americans “cling to their Constitution”.  I suggested that most Americans don’t understand our Constitution, which outlines how our government works.  However, Americans do “cling” to our Bill of Rights.  The right to free speech, freedom of religion, protections against unreasonable search and seizure and the right to privacy and private property are all delineated in the first ten amendments to the Constitution and explained in the Federalist Papers, created to gain the buy-in of a diverse group of 13 independent states.

Our Supreme Court was created to continually interpret our rights in order that we might make laws consistent with the founders’ view of a free society.  Notably, 66% of this year’sSupreme Court decisions were unanimous in that interpretation.

Perhaps more than the Constitution, Americans can recite from the opening of the Declaration of Independence.  The US was founded on the belief that all men and women were created equal and that certain inalienable rights are granted to individuals (not Kings) by God.

History teaches us that we have violated our own beliefs from time to time – from the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II to the denial of voting rights and equal opportunity to African Americans.  But, a society whose cultural values are defined by human rights seeks justice in all matters.  In the end, justice prevails.

History also teaches us that the founders’ didn’t have all the answers nor did they presume to.  For example, the right to privacy is generally regarded as Constitutionally granted in the US.  However, the word “privacy” doesn’t appear anywhere in the document.  The Supreme Court has consistently interpreted the Ninth Amendment to protect privacy as it specifically states that the “enumeration of certain rights…  shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people”.   

Much of our economic success has been the result of our rights to private property, again not specifically laid out in the Constitution. Chief Justice John Jay, the first to hold that title, interpreted the Fifth Amendment to afford those protections.

Much of this may be lost on those who are ignorant of our history.  However, the waves of immigrants who have come here over the last two Centuries to make a better life for their children – from the Irish who settled in New England in the 1840’s and 50’ to the Cubans who settled in Miami in the 1960’s and 70’s – have demonstrated the validity of a model of governance that has been emulated around the world.

Many, including me, disparage a federal government that seems to thrive on dysfunction.  But, America thrives on a core belief that we have the freedom to be who we want, say what we want and go where we want to go. 

And that, my friends, deserves a great celebration.  Happy 4th!


WHO WILL LEAD?

25 comments:

  1. John,
    Thoughtful and balanced. Really well done. While we are a relatively new country, do you think that the following three forces in our formation from three centuries back are ingrained and now part of our national culture: more religion? a fondness for guns? and the ongoing impacts of slavery?

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    1. I really can't answer that question(s) in an absolute way. There is no question that the factors you mention have an impact on our culture. Ingrained? I don't know what that means in this context.

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  2. Have a very Happy Celebration of the day of our Independence from a tyrannical King. Your blog was as always very well conceived and delivered. I am however, continually disappointed in the knowledge of the history of this country by the majority of its citizens, even though as you mentioned it has such a short time it became independent of British Rule in July of 1976. Our history is what defines us, this country, the most successful experiment in Democracy the world has ever seen. Right now, that success if being challenged by a broad government overreach that is attempting to thwart the Constitution by which the success of this country was attained. If someone does not answer your call to "Who Will Lead" soon, the next call may be who will stand and fight in another revolution? Not a revolution against a foreign enemy but our own Federal Government. I would like to believe that we are smart enough to learn from the destruction in other countries that was experience by allowing government to become all powerful and its citizens to become totally reliant and compliant. I challenge the citizens of the United States of American on the 238th Anniversary of its Independence to answer this question. Who will stand up and say No More Attacks On Our Constitution by those in government who swore to defend it?
    By K Mayeaux

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  3. In many cases, American Exceptionalism, being #1, is used as justification for insisting that 'the Rules' don't apply to us. Hence, the Ugly American image. Sometimes it's justified. Often it's not. Just as some Europeans think we're all scum of the earth but many don't.

    To the initial question, I celebrate this country aspirationally, in the hope that this work in progress will eventually live up to our rhetoric.
    By Richard Morris

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  4. Paul Alexander
    Financial Advisor; VP, Investments at Raymond James, WPB, FL; 1983 Graduate U.S. Naval Academy

    The "United States" and "America" are vastly different concepts. The US is fine. America, not so much.

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  5. "Unlike most European cultures, we don't have centuries of tradition."

    See Daniel Hannan for a counter-argument => http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Freedom-English-Speaking-Peoples-Modern/dp/0062231731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404386786&sr=1-1&keywords=daniel+hannan

    Hannan makes the point that, when somebody actually put a monument to the signing of Magna Carta there at Runnymede, the culprit was the American Bar Association. We do have centuries of heritage in liberty; we just do a right lousy job of keeping everyone appraised of where those abstractions came from.

    I blame the Commies, who've conflated these abstractions with racism for nefarious reasons.
    By Christopher Smith

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  6. Rimmer Lankester
    CRM / Operational excellence expert

    Happy independence day Americans!

    Interesting article John. Although at times I can be sceptical about the US and Americans, I also have many friends there and admire a great deal that comes from that side of the pond. I guess dualism is part of what makes it such a fascinating community of people.

    Enjoy your celebration!

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    1. Thanks, Rimmer. You inspired me to write it!

      Delete
  7. K Mayeaux
    Business Consulting

    Have a very Happy Celebration of the day of our Independence from a tyrannical King. Your blog was as always very well conceived and delivered. I am however, continually disappointed in the knowledge of the history of this country by the majority of its citizens, even though, as you mentioned, it has been such a short time since it became independent of British Rule in July of 1976. Our history is what defines us, this country, the most successful experiment in Democracy the world has ever seen. Right now, that success is being challenged by a broad government overreach that is attempting to thwart the Constitution by which the success of this country was attained. If someone does not answer your call to "Who Will Lead" soon, the next call may be who will stand and fight in another revolution? Not a revolution against a foreign enemy, but against our own Federal Government. I would like to believe that we are smart enough to learn from the destruction in other countries that was experienced by allowing government to become all powerful and its citizens to become totally reliant and compliant. I challenge the citizens of the United States of American on the 238th Anniversary of its Independence to answer this question. Who will stand up and say No More Attacks On Our Constitution by those in government who swore to defend it?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Paul Alexander
    Financial Advisor; VP, Investments at Raymond James, WPB, FL; 1983 Graduate U.S. Naval Academy

    The "United States" and "America" are vastly different concepts. The US is fine. America, not so much.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Christopher Smith
    Senior Consultant at Deloitte
    Top Contributor

    "Unlike most European cultures, we don't have centuries of tradition."

    See Daniel Hannan for a counter-argument => http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Freedom-English-Speaking-Peoples-Modern/dp/0062231731/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404386786&sr=1-1&keywords=daniel+hannan

    Hannan makes the point that, when somebody actually put a monument to the signing of Magna Carta there at Runnymede, the culprit was the American Bar Association. We do have centuries of heritage in liberty; we just do a right lousy job of keeping everyone appraised of where those abstractions came from.

    I blame the Commies, who've conflated these abstractions with racism for nefarious reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jeff Bradbury
    Marketing Executive

    John, as always your blog is thoughtful and thought provoking. May we all have a rewarding 4th and celebrate the continuing experiment in democracy we call the US.

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  11. I thought that we celebrate the USA because if we do not the NSA will eventually wiretap our house. Hooray for the USA! Hooray for the USA!
    By Chris Arthur

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  12. Anthony Watson
    Software Engineer at Glidewell Laboratories

    I do not agree that Americans understand the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. These documents require a level of citizen engagement in government that we are greatly lacking. Freedom is not free. We must think and understand the issues. We must question authorities that seek to retain power for themselves. Of course, America’s citizens cannot take the power back if we are too afraid. Politicians will always feed our fears to preserve their power and take the path of least resistance to stay in office. American greatness lies in her people and unless we stand up and take responsibility for our nation and her policies, Government for the people, by the people shall perish from this Earth.

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  13. Heather G.
    swimming instructor and caregiver

    I think the USA is the greatest country in the world. Why? I have been told it is, my entire life. As I have gotten older, and seen that other countries also do things well (and sometimes better than the USA), I still think we are wonderful. Why? We are an experiment in progress. Despite all the conflicts before, during, and after our creation, we are still here. We still learn. I hope. I think. The very human somebodies who actively set us in motion, using pen and ink, had read and thought enough about what they DIDN'T want to give us a relatively balanced political system. (I'm leaving out the fact that other people lived on this continent when the Europeans arrived, and also the concept of the electoral college, for now.) True, women couldn't vote until 1917 or so, and people with varied amounts of melanin were/are treated insanely badly, sometimes, and money may still rule, but we keep trying.

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    1. Rimmer Lankester
      CRM / Operational excellence expert

      I guess it's a good thing that most people think their own country is the best. at least it prevents a massive migration stream from everywhere to everywhere :-)

      Heather, I am curious though why you think the characteristics you attribute to the USA only apply there. To me, you could be describing pretty much any nation in the world.

      how come you think those attributes are unique to the USA?

      Delete
  14. Ralph Michalske, MBA
    Semiconductor Product Marketing Professional

    Hi John,

    If the metric for being #1 were based on our performance in the World Cup, then America is not #1 or even exceptional. If you use the term "exceptional" in the past tense, then you can make an argument for America being exceptional by any metric, except soccer. I'm concerned that we may be falling out of the #1 position, or being pushed out by emerging economies, mainly in Asia.

    You speak of our cultural values - free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to private property as if they are unique to us. With some exceptions, the modern world embraces these cultural values, as well. Personally, I believe after 200 years we have beaten "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" into our society. America wouldn't be America without these cultural values. I'm concerned that our cultural values don't also embrace Human Rights (our Constitution only mentions individual rights and States rights) and the inclusion of all people (civil rights, gender rights, and lifestyle rights). I'm particularly concerned to see freedom loving people from our continent (Central America) being deported back to their home country which is in turmoil. Thank goodness this didn't happen when your grandparents immigrated here.

    The rights to privacy and private property aren't really unalienable rights. They are simply "nice to have" rights. America would do fine, with or without them. The trend now is that privacy will be traded for national security. Transparency in all things will become increasingly more important. Personal privacy in the 21st century will be eroded due to social media, collection of mobile telecommunications data, and the Internet. I don't see any real movement to stop this. If your wages are part of your personal property where does IRS fit in, or payroll taxes and ACA for that matter?

    In any democracy there will be central government dysfunction from time to time, especially when you have a 50/50 voting split politically. However, this is far better than corruption as we see in other democracies.

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    1. John Calia
      Chair at Vistage International; helping CEO's become better leaders, make better decisions, and achieve better results

      @Ralph. That's a great summary. Inasmuch as I don't like to focus on the negative in our discussions, I must tell you that you comment about private property raised a red Flag for me. I don't think we'd be just as well off without the right to private property. It's central to the capitalist system that has made us so prosperous.

      As you have implied, there is a question as to when the government's right to levy taxes tips over to confiscation of private property.

      Delete
  15. Ralph Michalske, MBA
    Semiconductor Product Marketing Professional

    @John, you've said, "Much of our economic success has been the result of our rights to private property". I think you meant to say that our economic success has resulted from our natural resources and labor. As John Locke told us, we appropriate private property by our labor. He considered this a natural right. Locke puts a limit on the naturalness of private property, however, by claiming that only enough must be taken to enjoy personally and to allow one's family to enjoy without spoiling and thus being of no use either to oneself or to others.

    You're right to say that Capitalism has been core to our economic success as a country. Along with free markets, it has enabled our Exceptionalism over the last 100 years. It keeps us #1 economically. However, globalization has made us aware of other economies that are growing more rapidly than ours. Labor and natural resources are important to their growth, maybe even more important than private property.

    Although privacy and private property are nice to have, they aren't necessary for all to enjoy life, liberty, and pursue happiness.

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  16. @Ralph. Your last sentence is a personal value statement. The emphasis on private property that was part of Locke's treatise was in opposition to the feudal system wherein all property belonged to the crown. Even as Britain's economy became more capitalist during the 19th C., the lords still owned the property. The survival of that system into the 20th C. which was followed by the state nationalizing industry during Labor rule following WWII. It wasn't until Thatcher liberalized the economy that GB's growth started to mirror ours.

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  17. Ray Wach
    Sales at Silk Way Cargo

    There are different kinds of rights; some are inalienable -- no other person is justified in taking them away under normal circumstances. Our Constitution lists three: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; and that list seems acceptable to me. There are other rights that are not inalienable, but still are important -- and these rights are adjusted to find the value that is most effective for the society. Copyright standards are changing today because the balance of rights between an author and those who purchase his work needs to be adjusted as technology is changing. The right to Private Property is not inalienable, there are many times when it needs to be subordinated to other things, but it has traditionally been given more importance in the USA than in other countries. And I agree with John, it has been an important ingredient in the success of our capitalist system. It has not been the only factor in our success, but it has been one of the most important.

    But that wasn't an important part of John's article. John described the "American" culture and the way we are perceived by others very well, and personally I am not proud of this aspect my country. We a good at many things (generalizing), including getting along with people one-on-one or managing teams, but we are not very discreet or considerate of others. We're a bit like the loud-mouthed guy in the colorful shirt who dominates the party, and doesn't understand when he gets on others' nerves, or the tacky girl with the horsey laugh who thinks everyone likes her jokes. This isn't very important, but it doesn't hurt to remember it; other cultures pride themselves on their sense of style while we pride ourselves on our ability to join any crowd.

    And I'll suggest that we need to move beyond thinking of ourselves as Number 1; we don't need to be better than other nations, just to be the best that we can be ourselves.

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  18. Ralph Michalske, MBA
    Semiconductor Product Marketing Professional

    @John, well, when it comes to private property, I'm more aligned with Jefferson and Franklin on this matter. "Franklin found property to be a 'creature of society' and thus, he believed that it should be taxed as a way to finance civil society". [1] I suppose one could make the argument that it has been the taxation of private property that has made America #1 economically.

    Frankly, the UK economy surged ahead when they divested themselves of all their remaining colonies which they could no longer support financially. Additionally, they adopted the motto "in Quid (or £1) we Trust". The Pound Sterling remains the currency of choice for those lords you spoke of.

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  19. Ralph Michalske, MBA
    Semiconductor Product Marketing Professional

    Hi Ray,

    The words "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" are found in the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence, circa 1776, not in the US Constitution. The US Constitution was written, "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity".

    You're right to say that private property is not an inalienable right. At least Jefferson and his colleagues felt this way. It is an ingredient of Capitalism. It was given more importance in the old South and certainly helped the South to grow their agrarian economy prior to the Civil War.

    I like your analogy of, "the loud-mouthed guy in the colorful shirt who dominates the party, and doesn't understand when he gets on others' nerves". However, I prefer to say that "America is the country that loves to be hated".

    All great nations were #1 at one time. However, despite their greatness, they weren't able to sustain the excellence to retain that position. I suspect this is what John's professional friends in Europe are trying to convey to him.

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  20. The right to private property is less a philosophical tenet than a capitalist principle. Such rights were not clearly articulated in the Constitution; however, the nation's first Chief Justice, John Jay, validated it in a series of decisions in the first decade of the 19th C. The structure established in the Constitution as well as the articulated rights enabled capitalism to flourish. Capitalism and freedom go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.

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  21. Ray Wach
    Sales at Silk Way Cargo

    Thanks for the correction on the Constitution, Ralph.

    John, well said. There have been countries that experimented with State-run economies while believing that their people were free, but that isn't freedom as we understand it. When one joins a commune one surrenders a portion of one's freedom. But at the same time, one gets some benefits from joining a commune, and many of our fellow Americans are looking for those benefits from our government today. I am not sure that we want to have the same freedom our great-grandparents had. And, I am not sure we can remain a great country without the enterprise and self-reliance that come from having more freedom than we want.

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