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The One Great Idea
Not for seventy-five years have the
consequences of Republican political philosophy been so plain for all
the world to see. This philosophy of personal and collective selfishness
is not necessarily the philosophy of all who register or vote as
Republicans, but by deception and sheer political power it has been
imposed upon us as our government's, as representing our democracy in
the estimation of the world.
In the name of individualism and free-market economy we have
been led to corruption, unnecessary war, social injustice, financial
folly, and perpetual crimes against Mother Earth and all her live
posterity. With piteous cries against all taxes, boasts of their own
competence, claims of moral virtue, promises of fiscal magic, drum rolls
of single-issue patriotism, trumpeting of military force, and (perhaps
above all) demands for "smaller government", they have delivered us to
the edge of an almost irreversible decline in American civilization.
But it is not enough for us as Democrats to clarify what we
are fighting against. Nor is it enough to list our immediate positions
in resistance or initiative intended to restore an open and rationally
progressive government with ultimate consideration of what we pass on to
future generations of all races and classes. Of course we should always
fight for the particular measures required to get a liberal recovery
underway.
What we do need most to do, right now, before the next
round of campaigns, is replace the Republican political philosophy with
our own philosophy in the consciousness of Americans.
To start with, let's draw everyone's attention to the Preamble
of the Constitution, which emphasizes the "General Welfare" (also known
as the Common Good). Then we must get people to realize what that phrase
means as the one great idea that underlies everything we stand for. The
common good is not just "the greatest good for the greatest number".
It's the best possible good–all things considered as vital parts
of a single body politic. Some of the parts must moderate their own
wishes; others deserve a larger share of benefit: it's the health of the
whole body that should be, as the Founding Fathers meant, our political
criterion–whether government is large or small, depending upon what is
found by pragmatic consensus to be most expedient under present and
future conditions.
With this approach to debates we can beat the Republicans,
hands down, in the battle of ideas, which they themselves have been
calling for in the mistaken belief that their notion of "conservatism"
has been forever implanted in the hearts and minds of America. |
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Jonathan Bayliss in the 11/2005 GDCC newsletter |
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Gloucester
