The Root Cause

Steve Schear schear at lvcm.com
Sun Sep 16 18:51:36 PDT 2001


THE ROOT CAUSE

Cassius said, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars but in
ourselves that we are underlings." John E. Schwarz, a political scientist
at the University of Arizona, is far less certain of that:

"The notion that people have a capacity to control their own destinies is 
an enormously strong, almost insistent feature of our American culture. The 
stories of penniless immigrants who came to these shores and became 
successful are as legion as they are inspiring, fostering a belief that 
anyone can start anew in this country and succeed. Principal Joe Clark 
tells his students at Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey: 'Don't 
you know, no one can hold you down unless you consent to it.'

"Nonetheless, many people believe that over the past three decades a 
dangerous anti-ethos has arisen: the idea that the individual American is 
not responsible for his or her own fate. From the point of view of these 
observers, too many individuals have come to see themselves as victims 
rather than as agents, to feel sorry for themselves instead of working to 
pick themselves up--a mentality that government assistance programs helped 
to spawn and now continue to reinforce. With the expansion of government 
has come a feeling of entitlement and an emphasis on rights over 
responsibilities. The creed of personal accountability so important to the 
American ethos has withered, and with that has come a rise in welfare, 
illegitimacy, crime, and other social pathologies--the price the society 
has paid for the abandonment of character.

"Or has something gone wrong with the ethos itself? The premise that 
individuals can control and so be personally responsible for their own 
lives presumes that the opportunity to do so exists. Generations of
Americans have called this "the land of opportunity." But is it, still? 
Does opportunity remain available and adequate to the needs of the American 
people, sufficient to enable them to take control of their own lives? Does 
this ethos, which is expected to connect us and provide the moral 
underpinnings of a just and healthy society, reflect the reality that 
American families actually experience in their everyday lives? Are the 
problems troubling society today due to the disintegration of values and 
character, or to a genuine lack of opportunity that prevents individuals 
and families from being able to determine their own futures?"

 From John E. Schwarz's "Illusions of Opportunity: The American Dream in 
Question."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039304534X/newsscancom/





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