A Sense of the Collective Self

A SENSE OF THE COLLECTIVE SELF

By

Dr. Jimmie R. Applegate

“Cogito ergo sum”
Rene’ Descartes

Who are we? Where do we belong?
The French philosopher, Rene’ Descartes, set the stage for answers to these questions in 1637 when he proposed “Cogito ergo sum”. The English translation is “I think therefore I am”. Because we think, the above two identity questions will be answered in different ways depending on changes in the social, economic and physical environments.
Arguably since Amerigo Vespucci sailed to a new continent, the name “American” has identified an inhabitant of the northern part of that then unknown continent. Today a more legal description is “Citizen of the United States”, or “United States Citizen”; however, the single word “American” is most often used in common discourse.
America was proudly known as a “melting pot” where legal immigrants shared a common goal to become Americans. For the most part the place in the world where they originated was Europe but the land of freedom where they chose to live was America. Americans were ambitious, industrious and self-reliant with a belief that you own what you earn. Honor was a central virtue and Americans were optimistic and anticipated a bright future. They established a federal republic system of government that was more Jeffersonian with power vested in the people and states as opposed to the statist strong central government advocated by Alexander Hamilton. Americans lived in a country governed by a Constitution based on the enlightened thinking of the framers of the Constitution who reversed the traditional European hereditary kingship model of statist government by empowering the individual collectively as “the people” at the top of the pyramid.
This sense of the “collective self”changed with the election of Franklin Roosevelt who promised “a chicken in every pot” and increased federal employment opportunities to counteract the ravages of the Great Depression. His actions resulted in a social, paternalistic welfare state at the expense of social and economic liberty. As the federal government assumed ever increasing power during the New Deal, the roles of the states and individuals decreased. Thus began the characteristics of the entitlement mentality and the concept of the statist welfare state.
Prosperity slowly returned following World War II and a period of relatively comfortable living began that culminated with, as Alan Greenspan described, “irrational exuberance” that led to the Great Recession. This exuberance was evident in the social as well as economic aspects of life. Social Science and History teachers began teaching that Americans were “multicultural” and that the concept of a “melting pot” society was passé. Black citizens saw themselves as Black or African-Americans. And in 1988 Jesse Jackson led the move to institutionalize the official term, “Black-American” because “It puts us in our proper historical perspective”. Thus began the use of the “hyphenated-American”; e.g., Black-American, African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, etc. As an aside, it is interesting to note there are no White-Americans, European-Americans, German-Americans, English-Americans or Dutch-Americans, etc.
Living the life of irrational exuberance came to a jarring end with the Great Recession in 2007. President Barack Obama modeled Roosevelt by increasing the direct involvement of the federal government in the everyday lives of hyphenated-Americans. Statism ran amok with a veritable alphabet soup of entitlement programs leading to expectations followed by demands for ever increasingassistance from the welfare state.
As I write this in November, 2011 civil strife has spread around the world and demands for economic and social change have become more vocal and confrontational.America is not immune as evidenced by the so-called “Occupy”movement of the 99% “have-nots” versus the 1% “haves”. Current events are ripe for another Kent State tragedy where demonstrators were met with live ammunition. And the stage is being set for a potential civil war between schizophrenic hyphenated-American identity groups and other Americans.
According to a late Summer, 2011 Times/Money poll 60+ percent of respondents were pessimistic government officials would be able to spur economic growth. And more than 50+ percent were pessimistic about the next twelve months. Traditional American values of one nation and one flag are challenged daily. Previously cherished values of honor, self-reliance, independence, collective optimism, hard work, taking responsibility for our actions and the “we are Americans, let’s get it done” attitude are being replaced by an entitlement mentality nourished by statism plus an emphasis on social, racial and national identities. These changes are not free. They come at the tremendous expense of the loss of local control and personal, social and economic liberty.
Cogito ergo sum. I think therefore I am.