essay

In pursuit of the common good

In 1989, while I was a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School teaching ethics, I came across a finding in the library that symbolized for me the problem people today have in recognizing the common good.

I found that young Americans believe very strongly in their right to be tried before a jury of their peers if charged with a crime. But when asked to serve on the jury, they answered, ``Find somebody else.'' Such an attitude is illogical; it is easy to see that if your peers will not serve on a jury, you will not have a jury of your peers. This attitude is also ethically unacceptable; it takes from the common good without giving.

Symptoms of this imbalance -- citizens taking from but not contributing to the common good -- are everywhere. For instance, study upon study shows that Americans feel very strongly that there should be less government. However, they demand more government services such as health care, education and housing. The ultimate example of this disjunction is somebody in a TV audience who, during a discussion of what to do about the astronomical bill for the savings and loan crisis, shouted from the back of the room, ``The taxpayer should not have to pay for that; the government should.'' Obviously, we cannot personally benefit from the government if individuals never give to the government.

All societies have their own balance between the common good and individual rights. The image of a bicycle is useful in understanding such balance. The bicycle either leans too much in one direction -- that of individual entitlement and uncontrolled liberties -- or threatens to fall in the opposite direction -- that of too much collectivism, too many duties to and demands by the public.

Keeping in mind the bicycle image, we should not seek to pull society from one side to the other, but instead try to keep it balanced in the center. It is a process of continual correction. In the United States, the unique contribution of the communitarian movement is to underline the importance of simply throwing one's weight in the direction needed to right society.

I tend to favor tipping the United States away from uncontrolled liberties toward greater appreciation for the common good.

On the other hand, in places such as Albania and China, I would argue for more individual rights. In these countries, the common good -- or what the government has defined as the common good -- is all too well tended to.

In American society, our mission is not to neglect rights -- rights are what makes this country great -- but to realize that these rights must be balanced by a sense of the common good, by a sense of values, by a sense of personal and social responsibility.

Those who claim that there are no core American values are missing the substance. Substantive values brought us together and can keep us together. To point to the importance of core values, however, is not to suggest that these are a given canon, immutably handed down from one generation to another. On the contrary, history shows that the framework must continuously adapt to changing balances within the society and to environmental conditions. . For instance, the concept of privacy is included in constitutional lore, although the word ``privacy'' is not mentioned in the Constitution.

There is, however, one principle that underlies all others: Values do not fly on their own wings. Talking about and celebrating values is not enough. They require institutions to nourish them, sustain them and make them real.

What should these shared values be? In other words, what is the substance of the American common good?

First, we value a strong commitment to democracy. Without it, one might be tempted to put love of democracy aside when a vote deeply offends one's interests or values. Only when one subscribes to democracy as a core value can one's commitment be sustained under such a challenge.

It follows that it is important to keep this value alive and pass it on to future generations. Schools and civic practices, such as town meetings and community boards, are important tools.

Constitution important

Second, the common good requires that we maintain a strong constitutional framework for government. For example, the Bill of Rights establishes much more than a procedure. It represents core values that guide the American policy and society. It is the embodiment of shared notions of how liberties will remain ordered, of how to ensure rights and to maintain a civil society.

The Constitution also acts as a guide for the relationships among the smaller communities that make up society. It draws a sharp line between the decisions local communities make -- even if those decisions differ greatly from one particular community to another -- and those that are framed by society and do not vary.

The Constitution upholds certain values by distinguishing between matters on which that the majority may rule and matters in which the majority does not govern and where minority and individual rights are guaranteed. For instance, no one may be sold as a slave or be denied, without just cause, the right to vote or the right to speak freely.

Tolerance and respect form the third element of the common good. For a responsive community to live on, members must combine their commitment to their own particular traditions and values with an appreciation and tolerance, even respect, for those of others -- without necessarily endorsing these others as their own. For example, one may respect Islam or Buddhism without embracing either faith as an expression of one's own values.

The more one works to shore up communities, the more important mutual respect is. In a society in which only the differences among individuals are appreciated, lack of mutual respect is less of a problem. However, the more one promotes and strengthens communities, the more they tend to develop the sense of being an ``in group'' that then rejects the ``out groups.''

Fostering a sense of multilayered loyalty is important to help members of a community see themselves also as part of a more encompassing whole, composed of other communities.

People must also remain aware of their multiple allegiances, retaining their values without feeling the need to sacrifice themselves to one particular status: just male, just African-American, just lesbian. Complex and multilayered loyalties promote respect in a way that Balkanized identity groups cannot.

Reconciliation's role

The final part of the common good is reconciliation. To nourish the community of communities, Americans must accept that there is room for regret in our individual histories and in our shared history.

There is little to be gained -- and much to be lost -- if people use the dark moments in each other's history to bash other groups or to promote continuous hatred.

One need not ignore the injustices inflicted on African-Americans and Native Americans, or forget the way Japanese-Americans were treated during World War II. However, people need to learn to forgive and reconcile so they can live in peace and look to their shared future. Fanatics who forever find emotional buttons to push for other groups -- claiming that there was no Holocaust, suggesting that Africans were among the slave dealers, claiming that Satan is behind the women's movement -- are damaging the social fabric.

If we Americans could put the Civil War behind us, if Israelis and Germans can visit, trade, exchange culture and be civil with one another, then today's ethnic and racial groups should be able to come together. Americans need to learn how to reconcile, though it is not an easy process.

Communities have shared values, and they encourage people to be better than they would be otherwise. There is a notion these days that the moral person is a person who never errs or sins. Our definition of a good person and a saint have become synonymous, and now it has become impossible for any of us to fit.

Nobody can be a saint, we seem to say. On the opposite extreme, we should not allow people to lose all their internal values so easily. We should expect that a person who has been brought up properly will be able to respect the common good, internalize values and acquire self-discipline.

Role of community

What does this have to do with community? If the family and school lay the moral foundation, it is the community that strengthens and reinforces it: not police, not FBI agents and certainly not the Internal Revenue Service. People must appreciate each other when they conduct themselves properly andgently chide each other when they do not.

That is the secret of a well-functioning society, not reliance on the police when the fabric of society breaks down. A well-functioning society works by people first being socialized and educated, then supporting each other to be better than they would be otherwise.

Diversity within unity, bonded pluralism and communities nestled within a larger community -- these are concepts of a society in which people respect differences while maintaining unity. Once one embraces this basic concept, the next question is: What belongs to the shared framework and what to the member communities? Here, there is considerable agreement.

Democracy, the Constitution, and mutual respect are cardinal, while other borderline questions remain to be faced. One thing seems rather clear: We are not limited to simply embracing diversity or suppressing it in the name of unity.

In a responsive community we can have both -- diversity and unity -- if their relationship is properly crafted.