“This perpetual change which goes on in the United States, these frequent vicissitudes of fortune, accompanied by such unforeseen fluctuations in private and in public wealth, serve to keep the minds of the citizens in a perpetual state of feverish agitation, which admirably invigorates their exertions, and keeps them in a state of excitement above the ordinary level of mankind. The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle. As the same causes are continually in operation throughout the country, they ultimately impart an irresistible impulse to the national character. The American, taken as a chance specimen of his countrymen, must then be a man of singular warmth in his desires, enterprising, fond of adventure, and, above all, of innovation. The same bent is manifest in all that he does; he introduces it into his political laws, his religious doctrines, his theories of social economy, and his domestic occupations; he bears it with him in the depths of the backwoods, as well as in the business of the city.”
Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America
I find myself greatly perplexed by the current level of doom and gloom in our country. In so saying, I am not admitting to a level of idiocy beyond the reader’s ken, since I fully understand that these times are, indeed, truly and deeply troubled. In fact, these tiimes are more ominous than anything I have seen in almost 40 years of legal practice, and this recession is strikingly different from the three or four previous ones that I have weathered. And, the quintessence of their difference is the depth and volume of doom and gloom abroad in the land.
My perplexity stems from the disconnect between what I have always been taught about the unquenchable nature of the American spirit and the unmeasurable depths of the slough of despond in which many of our economic leaders seem to find themselves trapped. I have always been taught – and I firmly believe – that the American spirit is highly resilient. Not only do I believe that it is highly resilient, but I also firmly believe that it will rebound and eventually triumph.
As trite as that picture may seem to some, it has amounted to a capital “T” Truth during my lifetime. Take our previous national slough of despond which has become universally known by the simple sobriquet of “9/11”. As I said to many friends in the weeks following that beautiful late Summer day, it was as if a great greasy pall hung over the United States, the source of which were the smoke plumes we could see rising through the New York City sky in the days following. While the image of the smoke plumes was more potent when seen in person, it was nearly as mesmerizing on a television screen. While the pall lasted, it was an almost physical presence in our lives.
And then it was gone and life returned to an approximation of the past.
The American spirit rebounded after 9/11 despite an administration that tried to use it to instill fear as a means of ordering our life. The American spirit rebounded after the Great Depression and World War II, and that experience yielded a deeply talented generation of men and women who began the long period of growth we enjoyed throughout the last century. The American spirit rebounded after the Vietnam War despite its questionable morality, lack of focus and goals, and the despair and anxiety it unleashed on my own generation.
Other examples of the dominance of the American spirit are easy to find, but it is not my purpose to list them all. I simply wonder where, within the confines of our economic leadership, the wisps that remain to them of our American spirit may be hiding. It certainly isn’t evident in any of their doings or speeches. It isn’t evident in their faces. In fact, their slumped shoulders and dour expressions evidence anything but the American spirit. They have forgotten who they are and, more importantly, they have forgotten where they live.
Seen from a great height, it is apparent that the United States is currently mired in nothing more than one of the “frequent vicissitudes of fortune” that de Tocqueville sees as the crucible of our national spirit. It will end. While being caught in a vortex of bad news and economic pain is not a lot of fun on a daily basis, similar past experiences have always proved instructive to the national spirit. Americans long ago learned that while bad times are not enjoyable, we can still profit from them by taking to heart a good lesson hard earned. Americans have always had the knack of turning a period of despair or pain into the beginnings of a period of sustained benefit. The trick is to find the hard lesson at the core of the problem, to learn from it, to execute the changes necessary to move on, and to get on with life.
But to find the hard lesson and begin the learning and healing process, one has to search for meaning instead of spending his or her day wallowing in the pain of the moment. A massive communal wringing of hands is not conducive to learning; wallowing in woe is a waste. Most of our economic leaders are having a good wallow. Not only is the wallowing almost universal, but the current crop of executives would much rather return to the past and learn nothing from the present, apparently unappreciative of the opportunity that the present dilemma gives us.
Yes, I did say “opportunity”. We have a wonderful opportunity to: recognize that no regulation is just as bad as over regulation, and to realize that the mid-point of a pendulum swing is better than either extreme; wean ourselves away from foreign oil and to develop native energy sources that will allow us to be truly independent and in control of our own destiny; abandon a health care system that is the most expensive in the world yet leaves far too many of our fellow citizens without any health care whatsoever; learn the goals to be sought during the next century and begin the hard work of attaining them.
And if that isn’t enough of a list of opportunities, think longer than the next century. Dream big dreams! Dream of manned spaceflight to another planet – it is not only a possibility but it may be the only real salvation of a species living on an overworked and depleted planet. Dream of unmanned spaceflight to other galaxies and eventual colony ships to the planets found by that unmanned exploration.
In other words, remember de Tocqueville’s observation that the core of our character is innovation. What we had doesn’t work any more. That flivver is broken down in the middle of a dusty road. Get up, grab a wrench and fix it. Get in the damned thing and drive it to the next available auto shop, take it inside, reinvent it, and drive out in whatever your imagination has allowed you to create. Some of the by-products will be duds, providing humor and honing our ability to laugh at ourselves. But some of the by-products will be things of beauty. They will be this generation’s version of the plane piloted by Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kittyhawk.
But to get there, the wallowing of our economic leadership must stop and the learning must begin. We need to recognize that while we may be sitting in the middle of a train wreck, we are alive amid the wreckage. Things could be worse – and they will be if the wallowing continues.
In short – as my grandmother was fond of telling me when I was in despair over some youthful crisis or other – get over it. I no longer remember any of the crises that caused her to speak her piece; I only remember her words. She almost always followed “get over it” with “get on with it.”
It was good advice then, and it is good advice now.
