The Upswing

The United States has lost its enviable balance between self-interest and concern for others.

When French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 1830s, he witnessed a new nation that managed to balance respect for the individual with strong community values. Tocqueville admired Americans’ commitment to self-reliance without selfishness – their understanding that all boats rise together. He called it “self-interest, rightly understood.”

If Tocqueville arrived in America today, he would see a more prosperous, better educated nation where even the poor live better than they did in the 1830s. But he also would bemoan America’s “rigged system”: a society rife with inequality and inequities, that stacks the odds against those without accumulated wealth. He would witness a near-plutocracy that secures the fortunes of those at the very top, regardless of their merit, effort or talents. He would mourn for a nation in which corporations and their profits matter more than the future of the country, a country that literally burns as it grows warmer and less hospitable to life.