The Politics of Grievance

by Herbert I. London
March 1, 2010 at 4:00 am

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/1084/the-politics-of-grievance

There is a shift occurring in the United States that is imposing statism in a land predicated on limited government.

During this onset of the recession, it was believed by members of both parties that extending government power was essential in dealing with the economic stresses of the moment. In doing so, however, the Politics of Grievance has emerged. If the government uses its largesse to address social woe, how are rights determined and who allocates these benefits? Further, a government insistent on hand-outs will be a government that encourages grievance.

In the not very distant past, there were buffers that served as barriers against managerial despotism. But these buffers have been under assault for decades and are showing signs of weakness and decay.

The family structure has been undermined by divorce and illegitimacy. Schools have eroded rigor and standards. Churches resemble social institutions more than religious centers. And associations like the Rotary Club and the Lions are suffering from insufficient enrollment and a lack of interest.

The America de Tocqueville described in the mid-nineteenth century is largely gone, a testament to the past when national identity was being refined. The New Hampshire slogan “Live free or die” is great for license plates, but not for contemporary politics.

Some would argue that big government is a natural consequence of living in a bigger and more complex nation than was the case a hundred years ago. But incrementally the government is assuming the position of granting rights to citizens instead of having citizens grant rights to the government.

Despite an inclination to support limited government as the nation’s founders did, one of my issues with the Obama administration is that it is weak where it should be strong and strong where it should be weak:

For example, the president has put his prestige and influence behind a health care proposal that a majority of Americans oppose and that will shift health care to the public sector. By contrast, Iran has violated the non-proliferation agreement, has abused its citizens for contesting electoral manipulation, and has been the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Yet the president who should recognize and resist these challenges has so far been weak and unresponsive.

The road to serfdom is paved with rights and benefits: People want more of whatever someone else will pay for. The casualty in this assessment is personal responsibility and liberty.

We are not yet an authoritarian state and my hope is that America never will be one, but it is imperative we guard against that eventuality by recognizing that the rights we invent come with a corresponding withering away of freedom.

Big government may not be a problem if it exercises power in ways that promote American interests. But it is also true that government has a stake in perpetuating itself. Government may not always be the problem, but it is rarely the solution; all the programs that the American people covet may in the end alter the America they once loved and admired.

But despite a breakdown in personal responsibility, a dumbing down of the population, and defining cultural deviancy down, the U.S. with all its flaws and imperfections, is, in my judgment the exceptional nation. A common misperception is that the U.S. is in decline: There is a “declinist” school of historical analysis comprised of Harold Koh, Ann Marie Slaughter, Geoffrey Hodgson, Amy Guttman, Richard Sennett, Andrew Bacevich, Farid Zakaria among others who believe in historical inevitability -- a Marxist view that the forces of historical determinism are not on our side. But, like Charles Krauthammer, I think declinism is a choice. Americans are the most resourceful and resilient people on the globe. We do not shrink from challenges. The biggest mistake any politician can make is to underestimate the people of this great land. Although things often look bleak, and indeed are bleak, it is important to realize that the U.S. is the land of miracles. We turn waste into energy; failure into success, and we do it routinely.

As Lee Greenwood wrote in “I’m Proud To Be An American.:”

“I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free and I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me. “And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today for there ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the U.S.A.”

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