Does The American Dream Exist?
Last
evening, the Meddlesome Priest was invited to debate the question: “Does the
American Dream Exist?”
Upon arrival his
15 minutes allotted time was inexplicably chopped to 10 minutes, and the other
members of his affirmative team were batting for the other side. In reality,
the debate event was a Bernie Sanders rally.
But it was all in good fun. And a good time was had by all. Here
are my complete prepared remarks which I was not allowed to finish. Let them be
written here for posterity.
____________________
Does the
American Dream Exist?
Debate:
November 4, 2015
Santa
Barbara City College Room PS-101, 5:30 pm
For the
affirmative: Professor Mark McIntire
Prepared remarks:
Mr. Chairman: Well. I’m delighted to defend the proposition
‘The American Dream Exists’. My argument is as un-nuanced as it is unapologetic.
Tonight I get to practice what I preach in my Phil-111 course Critical Thinking
and Writing course (good seats are still available if you register now):
1.
State
my thesis
2.
State
my valid syllogism concluding with that thesis
3.
Define
my terms precisely
4.
Offer
best evidence for the truth of my premises and definitions.
5.
Sit
down and shut up.
Mr. Chairman, I know I can manage the first 4….but the 5th
one might require some help from the chairman of these proceedings.
With my thesis is clearly stated. My reasoning can be easily
understood by this valid syllogism:
(p1.) If
the founding principles and values of individual freedom enshrined in both the
Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are preserved, protected, defended,
nurtured, and given as our legacy to future generations, then the American
Dream exists.
(p2.) The
founding principles and values of individual freedom enshrined in the
Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are preserved, protected, defended,
nurtured, and given as our legacy to future generations.
Q.E.D. Therefore, the American Dream exists.
As I badger my students to define their terms after
front-loading their thesis argument, let me define what I mean by ‘the
principles and values enshrined in the United States Constitution”. These
founding principles and values of which I speak are contained in a single
proposition. Let me give a narrative, but nevertheless precise definition of
that proposition.
As our first American Ambassador to France in
1779, Dr. Benjamin Franklin spent a lot of time at ‘salons’ being wined and
dined by beautiful French aristocrats each with even greater wealth than Donald
Trump today. At one particular salon, where bacchanalian delights were
intermingled with philosophical discussion a lovely courtesan asked old Ben, “Dr.
Franklin what does it mean to be an ‘American’ anyway?” With a sip of fine
champagne and a wave of his elegant silk handkerchief he responded with the
very definition of the American Dream;
“To be an ‘American’,
Madame, is to assent to a proposition, and Mr. Jefferson wrote the proposition;
All men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
I could quote a lot of old dead white guys translating that
proposition into the ‘American Dream today, but would rather quote a
contemporary black woman. Whoopi Goldberg’s translation is as eloquent as it is
precise:
Recently, when Pope Francis
addressed American at Independence Hall, and referenced Mr. Jefferson’s proposition,
this is what he said.
"Those ringing words continue to inspire
us today, even as they have inspired peoples throughout the world to fight for
the freedom to live in accordance with their dignity."
Speech in Philidelphia
Mr. Chairman, at the heart of this
question about the American Dream is the question of what Mr. Jefferson meant
by ‘unalienable rights’. A superbly
literate man, Jefferson was no doubt influenced by, among others, Mr. William
Blackstone of Oxford. Mr. Blackstone thought that unalienable rights were
absolute rights because they came from the Creator who is absolute. Since the Creator was, is and will always be,
then so to these unalienable rights of freedom were, are, and always will be.
All humans are ‘endowed’ with these rights meaning that we cannot be separated
from them even if we wanted to be separated from them. These rights are,
therefore, not only for Americans, but for all humans on the planet. This is
unique in the long history of the world, and it is the exceptional basis for
the American Dream. Until the Declaration of Independence was signed and the
Constitution ratified, no other nation on earth made such a claim. In the long
history of the world, nothing like Mr. Jefferson’s proposition had ever been
written before. Therefore, in the long history of the world no nation used this
proposition as the foundation for all its laws, codicils, rules, regulations,
and traditions. For this proposition alone, America is unique among all the
nations of history that have arisen out of barbarism and passed into decadence.
Mr. Jefferson’s proposition is why America will never abide socialism in any of
it manifestations for very long if at all. As the enlightenment philosopher
John Locke stated;
“All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one
ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” John Locke
Alexis de Tocqueville, after his
extensive tour of America reported to the French government:
“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one
word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in
liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude”. Alexis de Tocqueville
Even if you don’t believe in God as
Jefferson’s Creator, as many reasonable people do not, you can still ascent to
his proposition by substituting the word ‘Nature’. In either case, you come to
the same conclusion in Jefferson’s argument. Our unalienable rights as humans
are not given to us by any government regardless of form; we are endowed with
them by Nature. Moreover, so alarmed were Mr. Jefferson and his co-conspirators
about ‘government’ infringing on our unalienable rights, they wrote The Bill of
Rights to protect our naturally endowed individual rights. It was not by mere happenstance that they
wrote the Second Amendment to protect the First. As rebels in eyes of King George, “…either we
hang separately or we hang together.” quipped Dr. Franklin after the Declaration
of Independence was signed. As British subjects at the time we were fighting to
overthrow a legitimate government, however tyrannical. Many history professors
are fond of glossing over this aspect of our Revolution. I don’t know why. Freedom
is never free. The founders of the
American dream had material security, but the valued spiritual freedom more
than mere possessions. Most of the 56
signers of the Mr. Jefferson's original proposition suffered catastrophic
material losses for their defense of individual freedom.
Mr. Chairman, evidence for the minor premise of my
argument that our founding principles of individual freedom can be found, it seems to me, in recent
SCOTUS decisions notably Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission and
Obergefell, et al. v Hodgers. In these two decisions the Supreme Court; I
believe, have preserved and protected our American Dream as a legacy of human
individual freedom. It matters not that I agree with the first decision and
dissent from the second. It matters not that I would have preferred these
decisions by vote of the people rather than by a single Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Kennedy
We are now embroiled in a titanic
struggle about the legacy of freedoms we will leave for future
generations. Mogul Donald Trump and Senator
Bernie Sanders, political outliers both, are leading armies of policy revolutionaries
against established powers in both the Republican and Democrat parties. One
promises the freedom to arise from poverty, work hard, invest, build, buy, sell
and finally be rewarded by untold wealth and success. The other promises the
freedom from poverty and oppression caused by the greed and avarice of
America’s ruling oligarchy through taking wealth and property from the rich and
redistributing it to the poor, the needy and the oppressed. Neither one of
these gentleman will, in my opinion, ever be president of the United States. I
say this because both of them only define the American Dream as material
opportunities and possession. Material opportunities are not the basis of the
American Dream, non-material freedoms are. Whatever temporary infatuation we
may have with cultural Marxism that measures the pursuit happiness by the
attainment of higher wages, more gadgets and gizmos, a trophy spouse or bed
partner, a string of lavish homes from Hope Ranch to the South of France will
soon be forgotten.
Mr. Chairman, 71 years ago I
arrived on this planet, and since then I’ve studied the 13 temporary occupants
of the White House, (as General McArthur used to refer to our Presidents
divisively), to learn their idea of the American Dream. After all, these
presidents are the masks that the mob has put on from time to time so that the
mob (us, you and me) would feel a little better when they looked into the
mirror every morning.
As an Irish-Catholic boy from
Boston, one of them our former Presidents fits my tenor and tone in this
advocacy. I conclude these remarks with the last paragraphs from his only
inaugural address on January 20, 1961. To my thinking this is the best
articulation to date of the American Dream existing as the pursuit of happiness
through the defense of freedom not just for Americans but for all human beings.
This is what he said. This is what John Fitzgerald Kennedy said:
“Let the word go forth
from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and
unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which
this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at
home and around the world.
“Let every nation know,
whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden,
meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival
and the success of liberty."
“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have
been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do
not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. The energy, the faith, the
devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who
serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for
you--ask what you can do for your country."
“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for
you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Thank
you, Mr. Chairman
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--- Mark McIntire