To Be An American

As a consultant advising college and university leaders on how to identify and effect change in their institutions, I was always struck by how planning groups would typically want to begin their work.  People would march into the room, fully confident that they knew what the problem to be solved was, why the problem existed, and usually very clear in their minds about what should be done about it.  Unfortunately, each person’s perspective would prove to be very different, which would normally come as a big surprise to the group members.  To complicate it further, the underlying attitude would frequently be, “I’m OK and doing fine, if YOU would just change what you are doing!”

What would then usually follow in these group discussions would be protracted and difficult arguments about what actions should be taken, with people promoting their tactics as of course superior to the tactics of others.  Proposed actions would bog down into pointing fingers over “who’s at fault,” and get lost within personality conflicts or individual power plays.  Over time, I learned a very valuable lesson from these painful discussions: If people cannot agree on what the TRUE PROBLEM is, and what RESULTING OUTCOMES need to be accomplished, then they will never agree on which tactical steps – in between the problem and the outcomes – need to be implemented.  Unless the necessary time was spent up front listening to each other, looking at the facts and statistics and varied human experiences behind the issue at hand, and hearing what the world looks like from each vantage point, no common understanding of the real problem would exist.  (“What do we really know about this problem?”)  And all of this advance work had to be done with the humility of realizing that perhaps each of us does not fully have the solution so conveniently in hand after all.  Without that upfront clarity and a shared sense of outcomes, no discussion on tactics was worthwhile nor would it ever produce truly effective results.

A similar lack of agreement on goals versus tactics infects our political discussions today.  We spend so much time throwing out a hodgepodge of proposals and draft laws, and then arguing about whose idea is “best,” that virtually nothing of much meaningful impact gets done.  It is like playing a game of darts with a large group of people but with no target painted on the wall.  Hence anyone can claim that their dart is the winner regardless of wherever it lands, because nothing exists to provide an agreed-to criteria for the winner.

In President Obama’s State of the Union address recently, he called for an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10, adding that “In America, no one working a fulltime job should have to live in poverty.”  The point of this particular blog commentary is not whether $10.10 is a good or bad thing; that is a separate discussion debatable on many fronts.  But calling the question of whether being an American should mean that a fulltime worker does not live in poverty is a good and proper discussion to have.  Answering those kinds of fundamental questions can breathe much needed fresh air through the hot, stale air of our current economic discussions.

What it means to be “an American” is the real question that the public and our leaders should be grappling with.  Because we might find that we have many disagreements over our fundamental assumptions.  Or perhaps even many agreements.  Or that there is a slice of American life different from mine that I really do not understand or appreciate.  Where we find we disagree, we should then work to explain our differing perspectives and reasonings in order to come into more shared perspectives and common goals.

Besides the principle that fulltime workers should not be living in poverty, what might be some other basic questions about “what it means to be an American”?  Does every American have the right to vote for his/her political leaders in an easy and unhindered way?  Should each American be entitled (or forced) to have the same education at the same age with the same quality as any other American?  Should every American have access to medical services and at the same level of needed care?  Should every American willing and able to work have a job available?  Should every American be left alone to choose their life decisions unless those decisions truly and substantively adversely affect others?  Should every American be able to identify the religious and spiritual practices most appropriate to themselves, free from domination or coercion from other beliefs?  Should every American be treated equally, fairly, and with honesty in the economic marketplace?  Should every American be entitled to a safe and healthy environment, free from violence, illness, defective goods, tainted foods and a toxic natural environment?  Should “successful” Americans have an obligation to give back to those less fortunate – either now or to support future generations?

At first blush, one might immediately think “of course,” or “of course not,” to such basic kinds of questions.  Or assume that they were answered long ago.  Or argue that there are substantive “yes, buts,” nuances, or shadings about these universal themes.  Yet these types of questions underlie our divisive political arguments today, suggesting that we have not come to agreement or declared a clear, national commitment regarding these goals.  We look for simple answers to these questions, yet consensus remains elusive because we have not stopped to fully educate ourselves on their background, and the reality-on-the-ground of these issues.  We have 300 million people in this country, each with widely varying experiences, most often of which we are highly unknowledgeable because they are out of our daily routine and immediate view.  So we have not come to a shared understanding of what we need to accomplish across that wide swath.

When America has committed itself to a common purpose, the appropriate solutions have surfaced and fallen into place, and our successes have been notable.  When we committed ourselves to defeating Japan and Germany in World War II, America marshaled its full military and civilian strength to achieve that outcome.  When we committed to landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong’s footsteps walked for all of us.  When we committed to eradicating the scourge of polio, that dreaded disease disappeared – ultimately world-wide.  When we committed to breaking down the barriers to opportunity from racial discrimination, we changed the color of this country in less than one lifetime – even as the work remains undone.

Direction comes from knowing where one wants to go.  Right actions come from knowing one’s direction.  This is the missing conversation in America, a conversation in greater depth than mere bumper-sticker headlines.  The real question is not whether or not the minimum wage should be $10.10; it is about what any minimum wage should be able to afford.  What is the baseline of being “an American”?  What remains above that baseline that is for each of us to individually achieve?  Let us have that thoughtful conversation, one-on-one, listening closely to each other, without the angry posturing and empty political rhetoric.

©  2014   Randy Bell