[Draft 11-7-2024]

We supposedly live in a secular society. And yet, sacred speech dominates our polarized politics. The righteous mind is alive and well. Private & public piety pervades our identities, our virtues and values. Dogma still divides. History has lessons which remain unheeded. Social media (and money) amplify an illusion of majority voice. We drift into a divide over the future of our democracy. The role of reason is in retreat.

Can heads, hearts, and hands find common ground to move forward?

Epigraph

All thinking about meritocracy is a series of footnotes to Plato. – Wooldridge, Adrian. The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World (p. 59). Skyhorse. Kindle Edition.

Aristotle pointed out that Plato was unable to distinguish between unity and uniformity. – ibid. (p. 66).

The hard-boiled part of the Protestant Ethic was incomplete, of course, without the companion assurance that such success was moral as well as practical. … Few talents are more commercially sought today than the knack of describing departures from the Protestant Ethic as reaffirmations of it. – Whyte, William H. (2013). The Organization Man: The Book That Defined a Generation. University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

private virtue and civic virtue

This post was inspired by Walter Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin.

Much of the admiration [for Benjamin Franklin] is warranted, and so too are some of the qualms. … His morality was built on a sincere belief in leading a virtuous life, serving the country he loved, and hoping to achieve salvation through good works. That led him to make the link between private virtue and civic virtue, … As he put it in the motto for the library he founded, “To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine.” – Isaacson, Walter (2003). Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Most of history, however, had a different notion of the private and public.

Dynasties … had one fundamental thing in common: they minimized the difference between the public and the private, or the political and the personal: … – Wooldridge, ibid. (p. 38).

whence the common good

In my stories, I’ve struggled with the classic tension between individual and collective ethics. Between the Protestant ethic – a major influence on American identity – and the social ethic. Between personal gain and the common good. The religious interplay of individual (personal) salvation and collective (interdependent) redemption.

There’s always been tension. But lately I’ve encountered articles on public policy decisions which shade interdependence with bespoke tribalism – short-circuit a more inclusive notion. Call out the limits of compassion in power imbalances, as in conflict zones and homelessness [1].

And then there’s the political interplay of social (collective) power and corporate (commercial) power and state power.

Liberty needs the state and the laws. But it is not given by the state or the elites controlling it. It is taken by regular people, by society. Society needs to control the state so that it protects and promotes people’s liberty rather than quashing it … – Acemoglu, Daron; Robinson, James A.. The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (p. xv). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Hopefully we’ve not returned to the excesses of the 1980’s wherein “greed is good” [2]. That is, framing unfettered commerce and predatory economic success as benefiting the common good. And, perhaps, as a claim of personal piety.

Yet, our political culture certainly has vocal elements which define religious faith as political power, as the power to exclude others. Tinged with notions of supremacy and nationalism.

Isaacson’s book reminds me that the tension goes back to the founding of America, to those who came to a nascent nation seeking freedom of worship and economic opportunity. A coupling of private gain and public deeds, for which personal pride and public praise were metrics of righteousness. A framing which established a meritocracy entangled with spiritual ascendancy (and all the usual hypocrisy, such as the “marriage between meritocracy and plutocracy”).

… there is one idea that still commands widespread enthusiasm: that an individual’s position in society should depend on his or her combination of ability and effort. Meritocracy, a word invented as recently as 1958 by the British sociologist Michael Young, is the closest thing we have today to a universal ideology. – Wooldridge, ibid. (p. 1).

the social order and divine order

In Troilus and Cressida (1609) Shakespeare’s Ulysses presents a view of society … The social order is a reflection of the divine order. – Wooldridge, ibid. (p. 25).

The American Revolution produced a new (but limited) notion of social order.

Benjamin Franklin, America’s leading example of a self-made man, … observed, ‘Let our fathers and grandfathers be valued for their goodness, ourselves for our own.’ This owed much to the spirit of Puritanism, which did more to shape America than any other country … – Wooldridge, ibid. (p. 176).

The Puritan [3] worldview became embedded in the American psyche, whether remaining identifiably devotional or subtly operational in “purity” affiliations.

… historians such as Perry Miller have regarded Puritan New England as fundamental to understanding American culture and identity. Puritanism has also been credited with the creation of modernity itself, from England’s Scientific Revolution to the rise of democracy. In the early 20th century, Max Weber argued in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that Calvinist self-denial resulted in a Protestant work ethic that nurtured the development of capitalism in Europe and North America. [3]

For most Puritans, … their errand into the wilderness was propelled by considerations of both faith and finance. … These Puritans would not have made an either/or distinction between spiritual and secular motives. For among the useful notions that they bequeathed to America was a Protestant ethic that taught that religious freedom and economic freedom were linked, that enterprise was a virtue, and that financial success need not preclude spiritual salvation. – Isaacson, ibid.

“Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings.” (Proverbs 22:29)

… the Puritan migration established the foundation for some characteristics of Benjamin Franklin, and of America itself: a belief that spiritual salvation and secular success need not be at odds, that industriousness is next to godliness, and that free thought and free enterprise are integrally related. – Isaacson, ibid.

There’s a caveat to diligence: “pride goes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Both private and civic virtue are fragile, subject to corruption (vanity, pretension) and discomposure. When threatened, embedded norms of social and spiritual merit – the “frenzy to achieve distinction” (Rousseau) – reveal cultural identities divorced from the competitive principle – eclipsing a marketplace of ideas and a market economy. When broken, stereotypes spill out. Reason is replaced with rage.

We need a renewed sense of common purpose, an overarching social ethic highlighting interdependence rather than ascendance.

Notes

[1] There are indeed practical, contextual limits to compassion. However, I am struck by the almost medieval Inquisition-like tone of some claims, sort of like: “I am doing this whether you like it or not – to protect you.” Or, “I am killing your body to save your soul – as a kindness.”

• LA Times 3-13-2024 > The Nation > “Literary journal erupts over Israeli’s essay on war” by Jenny Jarvie – What are the limits of empathy in war?

• LA Times 4-27-2024 > “Fearing a backlash of ruling against homeless” by Kevin Rector – “Where do we put them if every city, every village, every town lacks compassion and passes a law identical to this? Where are they supposed to sleep? Are they supposed to kill themselves not sleeping?” Sotomayor [Justice Sonia Sotomayor] said.

[2] Wiki > Wall Street (1987 film)

The film was well received among major film critics. … the film has come to be seen as the archetypal portrayal of 1980s excess, with Douglas’ character declaring that “greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”

[3] Wiki

• Wiki > Puritans > Puritans in North America

Puritans were dissatisfied with the limited extent of the English Reformation and with the Church of England’s toleration of certain practices associated with the Roman Catholic Church. They formed and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and corporate piety. … Some believed a uniform reform of the established church was called for to create a godly nation, while others advocated separation from, or the end of, any established state church entirely in favour of autonomous gathered churches, called-out from the world.

By the late 1630s, Puritans were in alliance with the growing commercial world, …

Puritanism was never a formally defined religious division within Protestantism, and the term Puritan itself was rarely used after the turn of the 18th century.

Puritanism had a historical importance over a period of a century, followed by fifty years of development in New England. It changed character and emphasis nearly decade by decade over that time.

Puritans in North America

Puritan leaders were political thinkers and writers who considered the church government to be God’s agency in social life

The Puritans in the Colonies wanted their children to be able to read and interpret the Bible themselves, rather than have to rely on the clergy for interpretation. In 1635, they established the Boston Latin School to educate their sons, the first and oldest formal education institution in the English-speaking New World. They also set up what were called dame schools for their daughters, and in other cases taught their daughters at home how to read. As a result, Puritans were among the most literate societies in the world.

Beliefs > Calvinism

The concept of covenant was extremely important to Puritans, and covenant theology was central to their beliefs. … Covenant theology asserts that when God created Adam and Eve he promised them eternal life in return for perfect obedience; this promise was termed the covenant of works.

Beliefs > Conversion

Covenant theology made individual salvation deeply personal [as in personal piety and sanctification].

Cultural consequences

Some strong religious beliefs common to Puritans had direct impacts on culture. Puritans believed it was the government’s responsibility to enforce moral standards and ensure true religious worship was established and maintained. … the Puritans’ emphasis on individual spiritual independence was not always compatible with the community cohesion that was also a strong ideal.

Behavioral regulations

Puritans in both England and New England believed that the state should protect and promote true religion and that religion should influence politics and social life.

Historiography

… historians such as Perry Miller have regarded Puritan New England as fundamental to understanding American culture and identity. Puritanism has also been credited with the creation of modernity itself, from England’s Scientific Revolution to the rise of democracy. In the early 20th century, Max Weber argued in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that Calvinist self-denial resulted in a Protestant work ethic that nurtured the development of capitalism in Europe and North America.