An American Cooperative Vision

May 30, 2008

image from site "Urban Experience in Chicago: Hull-House and Its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963.

The argument against universal health care often comes down to a more or less elaborately phrased statement of "It's not American." The claim is that somehow collective action goes against our national character and therefore irrespective of the merits of such a plan, it should be avoided. I find it humorous to think about how that argument would sound if applied to my own personal deliberations: "Hmmm, I won't commit to that idea because it is just not a 'Martyn' way of doing things." But the point in important decisions is to act in ways that are beneficial and smart, not to let an abstract definition of yourself get in the way of doing what is best. A set of qualities that are "Martyn-like" might be decipherable in hind-sight, but it would be an oddly sterile way of thinking for me to base decisions off a notion of what "Martyn should do."

But irrespective of my qualms about this way of reasoning, I also find it striking that the American tradition is in fact much broader than people give it credit. To listen to the popular media one might think the individualistic religious/business ethic is the only tradition that counts in the American past.. and everything else is somehow foreign. But actually there are people like Jane Addams, founder of Hull-House in Chicago, who point to a broader American tradition. The book to read in this respect is Twenty Years at Hull-House, a recounting of her experiences in the urban mess of Chicago from 1889 until 1910. The book is filled with cooperative ventures, which Addams recounts with pride. If one reads carefully it is also abundantly clear how closely she is tied to a long tradition of American cooperation.

Addams investigates her own motives in starting up Hull-House and she gives a central place to Democracy.. especially the vision of Democracy communicated by Abraham Lincoln. The urban slums that she encountered in Chicago were horrifying precisely because they represented a breakdown of Democracy:

The policy of the public authorities of never taking an initiative, and always waiting to be urged to do their duty, is obviously fatal in a neighborhood where there is little initiative among the citizens. The idea underlying our self-government breaks down in such a ward. The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of schools inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, the street lighting bad, the paving miserable... [68]

The idea that government ("public authorities") should "stay out of the way" and let people solve their problems through private industry is thus found lacking. The whole point of a slum is that the resources are not there to allow for concerted private effort, and the situation thus demands external effort on the part of government. Without that external initiative, Democracy will "break down."

The philosophy implied here is that individual initiative and private enterprise can only be expected from a healthy and educated citizenry. This also matches a quotation about Abraham Lincoln that Addams cites approvingly:

...and as the philosopher spoke of the great American "who was content to dig the channels through which the moral life of his countrymen might flow," I was gradually able to make a natural connection between this intellectual penetration at Oxford and the moral perception which is always necessary for the discovery of new methods by which to minister to human needs. In the unceasing ebb and flow of justice and oppression we must all dig channels as best we may... [32]

To my mind Addams represents one of the finest statements of the American liberal vision: it is an active digging of economic channels in order to enable the private initiative of citizens within a community. Without those public channels to various disadvantaged communities, it will be impossible for them to take part in the vital public life of the nation.. and that in turn will lead to the degrading of public life for all. It would be helpful if we learned to frame modern issues—such as health care—within this liberal vision.