Civic virtue isn’t new
Recently, discussions about the American Dream have centered on the tired debate between socialism and laissez-faire economics. Proponents of these two rigid philosophies often claim they represent natural human progression. They ignore the fact that the American Dream is about opportunity, not an economic system.
Proponents of socialism often wrongfully co-opt the Nordic social democratic model as democratic socialist, but they are not the same at all. Meanwhile, proponents of laissez-faire capitalism wrongfully believe their values align with the founding ideals of individual liberty, completely ignoring the communitarian nature of the early United States.
The founders spoke often of the “public good,” and the first grievance in the Declaration of Independence against King George III was “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” Since the English Bill of Rights of 1689, even kings were expected to submit to the law and serve the public good instead of self-interest.
Laissez-faire economics believes in unrestrained self-interest, which conflicts with classical republican ideals of the collective common good and civic virtue. Unfortunately, the United States has gone through cycles of “greed-is-good” eras — like the Gilded Age and the 1920s — and the country is arguably in its longest period of hyper-individualism which began with the “Me” Decade of the 1970s. The political rise of Donald Trump is the natural progression of this ethos.
However, like the Norwegians, Americans also have a rich history of collective action to rediscover. Social democracy is highly similar to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s democratic capitalism. Americans don’t need to try something different; they need to try what worked before and to stop calling it socialism.