Elaina Jones
Since its founding, America has been a symbol of unity and strength across the world and has upheld the ideal of E Pluribus Unum: out of many, one. With this motto at the forefront of the nation, America has thrived and become a mighty country and global superpower. However, losing sight of this unity has dangerous implications for the future of the country. In his farewell address to the nation, George Washington emphasized the importance of unity and citizenship: “your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty…the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.”[1] Washington’s two values, unity and love, are growing scarce in the modern United States. Thanks to the power of national media, local struggles and movements are broadcasted to the entire country, causing unrest and division. These divisions are reinforced and politicized by heavily polarized political parties, and these factors have combined to create Generation Z, the generation with the lowest national pride in many years.[2] A dramatic decrease in community participation and civic groups has isolated Americans and contributed to individualism. Since its founding, America’s unity and sense of citizenship have protected and upheld the country. While a strong sense of national unity and loyalty to one’s fellow citizens is what protects and unites a country, party divisions, national unrest, a disillusioned generation, and a lack of local community have caused America’s sense of citizenship to decline; however, returning to founding values of civic charity can change the nation’s course.
First, party polarization has caused dramatic divisions across the country. Statistics done in 2019 by Pew Research Center found that on questions of political values such as gun laws, gender and sexuality, the economy, and immigration there was, on average, a thirty-nine percentage point disparity between answers from Democrats and Republicans.[3] Just two years later, Pew President Michael Dimock put out an article entitled, “America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide,” in which he states,
Fissures have pervaded nearly every aspect of the public and policy response to the [Covid-19] crisis over the course of the year… America’s relatively rigid, two-party electoral system stands apart by collapsing a wide range of legitimate social and political debates into a singular battle line that can make our differences appear even larger than they may actually be.[4]
With the title of his article, Dimock references American exceptionalism, the idea that America is unique among the world’s countries in its politics, values, and structure. Exceptionalism, in and of itself, does not mean either good or bad, only unique. Therefore, there are two sides to the American exceptionalism coin: America is uniquely good or bad. America is exceptional, Dimock proposes, but in a way that threatens it with collapse. With this, Dimock represents the shift in the American mindset from the once positive idea of American exceptionalism. Party divides are one factor that have contributed to this change.
Washington himself famously warned against parties in his farewell address to the nation: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”[5] This inclination to party revenge has been seen throughout America’s recent history as presidential candidates promise to reverse their predecessor’s executive orders as soon as they get in office. Within his first 60 days in office, Ronald Reagan reversed twenty-two of his predecessor Carter’s executive orders, and George W. Bush reversed 64 over his entire term.[6] Candidates like Donald Trump have run a significant amount of their campaign on promises to undo the actions of their predecessors.[7] This is a feature of the spirit of revenge Washington warned against. Rather than working towards progress and building off the efforts of previous leaders, presidents reversing executive orders reinforces the image of combative parties. Instead of promoting cooperation across the aisle, it encourages divides between the American public.
National unrest is born out of party polarization. In the past few years, nationwide affairs, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, have been brought to national attention. Because these events are heavily politicized, they are molded to support one party or another, therefore presenting the problem as “person vs. person” rather than “person vs. problem.” This mindset reinforces polarization. Unfortunately, this message of division is being presented on every level, and the way Americans receive their news shows how pervasive the problem really is. When studying the effect of news on public opinion, Cindy Christen and Kelli Huberty found that people who seek out their news on the internet are likely to only look for information that aligns with their current beliefs.[8] Furthermore, Christen and Huberty found that people project their personal opinion on the news they consume and use that as a scale for the value and truth of the stories they hear.[9] While these findings are not revolutionary, they shed light on an important truth: Americans do not want to listen to what other people have to say. Being entrenched in one’s own beliefs and never entertaining another’s opinion creates a strong individualistic and inflexible mentality. This is evidenced in America’s reaction to the pandemic. First quarantine mandates, then masks, and finally vaccines have prompted people to choose rigid sides and stay there. National unrest has led to a disdainful view of friends, family, and neighbors, which in turn has weakened the bonds of citizenship.
Another indication of weakening bonds of citizenship is declining American pride, specifically in Generation Z. In a poll taken this summer, only 26% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 said they were “extremely proud” to be American, compared to 53% of people over 55.[10] And Generation Z is not afraid to speak up about their views. Social media is awash with tweets, TikToks, and Instagram posts criticizing or making fun of America. Every factor previously mentioned has contributed to this criticism; Generation Z does not believe America is worth loving. Their experience as Americans has been challenging, growing up through financial crisis, war in the Middle East, party divides, and the pandemic. When Donald Trump was elected president, there was a large sentiment of despondency, with many saying they would move to Canada to escape the country they believed was too far gone. Concerned with America’s numerous sins and scared by the direction of politics, Generation Z is one of the least patriotic in the country’s history.
This sentiment goes against the ideals of America’s founding. Patriotism and love of America have always been crucial aspects of strong citizenship. Washington states:
Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.[11]
This ideal is missing in Generation Z. Those “slight shades of difference” have become increasingly more severe, and the common struggles and sufferings are not as universally felt as class divides continue to grow. Young adults feel increasingly alienated from their country and community.
A lack of local community does not just affect Generation Z. It is a deep and pervasive problem that has taken decades to develop. Citizenship is not merely a national concept; it begins as a sentiment between neighbors, towns, and states. This is built through local clubs, organizations, volunteer groups, or any community gathering, and it defends against the dangers of isolation and individualism. In Democracy in America, Alexis De Tocqueville warns against the dangers of individualism, saying that it causes a citizen to “isolate himself from the mass of those like him and to withdraw to one side with his family and his friends, so that after having thus created a little society for his own use, he willingly abandons society at large to itself.”[12] Isolation and individualism have been encouraged by the transient nature of some Americans. Moving from state to state and not establishing a permanent home causes a lack of belonging and community. Tocqueville comments on this, saying, “When men are no longer bound among themselves in a solid and permanent manner, one cannot get many to act in common except by persuading each of them whose cooperation is necessary that his particular interest obliges him voluntarily to unite his efforts with the efforts of all the others.”[13] Permanent bonds, such as a house and generational connections, automatically lead to community. The absence of these bonds leaves Americans who do not have a personal reason to participate in and help the community. Forming permanent relationships and communal bonds encourages citizenship.
American society has always been built around community and associations. Tocqueville noticed and admired the American urge to form an association: “Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite… Americans use associations to give fêtes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools.”[14] This was, by Tocqueville’s reckoning, unique to America. “Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.”[15] Tocqueville goes on to assert that these associations are what keep men from devolving into a disjointed and functionless society. This creates a problem for modern America. In 2019, a Pew Research study found that out of Americans surveyed, only 57% were involved in some sort of community group, mostly church or another religious community. Since that survey, quarantine and necessary social isolation due to Covid-19 have reduced these numbers and further separated communities.[16]
Robert Putnam addresses this issue in his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, a work describing how America’s social structures have fallen apart. Once, after-work bowling leagues, PTAs, or youth clubs built bonds of community, but these have become increasingly scarce. Putnam identifies several factors that he believes contribute to this decline. These include the pressures on two-career families, suburbanization and urban sprawl, the increase of electronic entertainment, and generational change of values.[17] This generational change is of particular note to Putnam. Bowling Alone describes how civil activity would grow dramatically after each war in which America was involved. World War II, in particular, brought about nationwide patriotism and civic activity, but as the space between the war generation and the current population grows, Americans are more distant from the civic fervor that spurred their forefathers to community activity.[18] Another notable factor for Putnam is the “privatization of leisure time.” The advent of television and other electronic entertainment provided Americans with a leisure activity they could enjoy alone in their houses. Television, Putnam says, played a direct hand in the disappearance of clubs and associations.[19] These social structures provided people with opportunities to come together and have a direct hand in improving their town and, through that, their life. Hands-on work with tangible effects bolstered community pride, which in turn strengthened a national sense of citizenship.
America’s founding fathers knew that unity and citizenship were the only ways to sustain the developing country. In times of political division, Thomas Jefferson advised that we must “unite with one heart and one mind [and] restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”[20] What Jefferson was speaking about is the ideal of civic charity. Also known as Washington’s “spirit of amity,”[21] civic charity is the love of country and fellow citizens that shows itself in dignity, respect, and the pursuit of freedom. While a lack of citizenship is not an easily solved problem, there are three steps that can be taken to help return to the founder’s intent for the nation and bring back civic charity into today’s political and social discourse: recognizing that unity does not require conformity, treating one another as friends and allies rather than enemies, and escaping the cycle of party revenge by fighting for justice and upward mobility.
First, we must recognize that unity does equal conformity. W. West Allen of the Federal Bar Association makes this point in his article Founding Fathers’ Message on Unity and Civic Charity Is More Relevant Than Ever:
All have gifts that contribute to the greater national whole. We are dependent on each other. We have need of every citizen. If one suffers, we all suffer. If one rejoices, we all rejoice together. If one of us is bound, none of us is free…This is the greatness of a republic… we love one another.[22]
This is the basis of civic charity: underneath all our political, cultural, or religious differences, we love each other and our country. However, these differences are not to be overlooked. Each person introduces to the country new and unique personalities and abilities. These are to be celebrated, not erased.
Unity will never come from one person controlling the narrative or one party being in control. This goes against the essence of democracy. Too often, politicians fight to have their party control all three branches of the government. However, a founding principle of America is that everyone has a voice. The government was designed to represent many different opinions, and having one party control the direction of the nation is dangerous. James Madison addresses this in Federalist 51. Speaking on the dangers of factions, Madison emphasizes how factions lead to oppression: “In a society, under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger.”[23] Having one party control the entire government leads quickly to factions and majority control. Unity, rather than uniformity, is key to a balanced government.
Balance, however, cannot be achieved when the government is at war with itself. Elected officials must treat each other as friends and allies rather than enemies. Statesmanship was an important ideal for the founding fathers. Washington, in his farewell address, stated that “It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”[24] Throughout his works, Washington emphasizes virtue, character, and morals as the foundations of any good statesman and, for that matter, any good citizen. It is difficult to achieve positive progress in the government when politicians lack these values. Parties treating each other as enemies and supporting only their individual agenda does not further the good of the nation. Civic charity would fight for the opposite. Viewing each other and the country as of utmost importance inspires one to strive, as allies in one cause, for those rights instead of personal gain.
Finally, the goal of the government cannot be party in-fighting or revenge. It must fight for justice and upward mobility for the betterment of the nation and each other. Madison states in Federalist 51 that “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”[25] America’s government exists to promote and defend justice. That is why it was founded. It has fallen short uncountable times throughout the years and will continue to fall short for the rest of America’s lifetime. This does not mean we give up. For all America’s faults, which are undeniably many, it has stood as a symbol of justice for over 200 years. Remembering this sacred tradition and continuing to honor it will sustain America through our current unrest and division. This is what Madison expressed when he said,
In America, the miseries springing from her internal jealousies, contentions, and wars, would form a part only of her lot…This picture of the consequences of disunion cannot be too highly coloured, or too often exhibited. Every man who loves peace; every man who loves his country; every man who loves liberty, ought to have it ever before his eyes, that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the union of America, and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it.[26]
Madison’s words set the standard of citizenship and loyalty for America. America may not be perfect, but its constitution serves as a bulwark against despotism and tyranny. Reintroducing a spirit of civic charity to the government will refresh and protect these ideals.
Many factors contribute to the nation’s declining sense of citizenship, including national unrest, party divisions, and a lack of pride and community. These are just some of the numerous problems America faces today and will continue to face for the rest of its lifetime. While this seems a grim predicament, America has withstood worse. The founding father’s values of civic charity, unity, justice, and love of country are still as applicable today as they were at the founding. This is the founder’s intent: that every American feels within themselves a deep sense of citizenship and love of America. That love is to be upheld by elected officials, expressed through civic charity, and cherished by every citizen.
[1] George Washington, “Washington’s Farewell Address 1796,” Yale Law School, 2008.
[2] Jeffery Jones, “American Pride Ticks Up From Last Year’s Record Low,” Gallup, July 1, 2021.
[3] “In a Politically Polarized Era, Sharp Divides in Both Partisan Coalitions,” Pew Research Center, December 17, 2019.
[4] Michael Dimock, “America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide,” March 29, 2021.
[5] Washington.
[6] James Pfiffner and Joshua Lee, “Trump pledged to reverse Obama’s executive orders. Here’s how well past presidents have fulfilled that pledge,” January 23, 2017.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Cindy Christen and Kelli Huberty, “Media Reach, Media Influence? The Effects of Local, National, and Internet News on Public Opinion Inferences,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 84, no. 2 (2007): 315–334.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Jones.
[11] Washington.
[12] Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2002), 482.
[13] Ibid., 488.
[14] Ibid., 489.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Aleksandra Sandstorm and Becka Alper, “Americans with higher education and income are more likely to be involved in community groups,” February 22, 2019.
[17] Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York:
Touchstone Books, 2001), 283.
[18] Ibid., 268.
[19] Ibid., 284.
[20] W. West Allen, “Founding Fathers’ Message on Unity and Civic Charity Is More Relevant Than Ever,” January 20, 2021.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] James Madison, “Federalist 51,” The Federalist Papers: The Gideon Edition (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc., 2001).
[24] Washington.
[25] Madison.
[26] Ibid.