A recent Voices piece framed the Declaration of Independence as a covenant binding “one people” into community rather than a promise of individual rights. These competing concepts of community vs individualism speak to current debates around capitalism, communism, socialism and democratic socialism, with each option framed as an all or none proposition, good vs evil. Rather the question should be: “What are the goals and responsibilities of government and how are those best met?”
Stating the obvious, government should provide those things that individuals or private entities can’t effectively do alone — e.g., national defense, infrastructure, public safety, education and the administration of laws and justice. The Great Depression, WWII and FDR’s New Deal introduced significant economic interventions such as banking regulations and public work projects. LBJ’s War on Poverty introduced Social Security, food stamps and enhanced civil rights laws.
That leaves us to envision the “common good” we want today. Affordable housing, education and healthcare, along with living wages for meaningful employment are good places to start. Environmental protections, civil order without militarization and just administration of our laws should also be on the list.
As to which economic system can “do it best,” labels confuse, divide and divert attention from efforts to build a society where all can thrive. The challenge should be that of crafting a uniquely American economy, taking the best ideas from each system, discarding the worst and staying focused on the goal of building the community also described in the Preamble to the Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order 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, do ordain and establish this Constitution . . . “
Ellen Brady, Murray