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asking whether the damaged state of our political value root system
is such that we are about to experience a decline, unable to bear the
fruits of our democracy we have previously enjoyed. A response to
this question is the focus of this paper.
The vertigo surrounding our national identity and engulfing our
political dialog is troubling to academics, politicians and anyone who
values the political principles which have sustained us as a people.
I am among those who are deeply concerned about our current
divisiveness. My concern is based on a belief that our political values
are at the very core of our democracy and is most representative of
who we are as a people. Therefore, I believe an ongoing examination
of the evolution and overall state of our values is critically important
and most appropriate when, as is the case today, our common values
are seen by many to be in peril. This is not the first time nor is it
likely to be the last time our nation’s attention has had to refocus on
those values which determine our national identity. History reveals
that attention to the importance of our values and their saliences to
our national identity have varied over time. In times of war, natural
or man-made disasters or perceived or real threats to our security we
unite as a people. External challenges have always seemed to trump
internal conflicts of values. We appear to be at our best when we
are challenged or in peril. Similarly, in relative tranquil times when
things are going well for all segments of society, the importance
of values to our national identity is given little attention. On the
other hand, it is in times of internal economic, social and political
stress when divisions over values take on greater importance in our
collective consciousness and is the subject of extensive debate in
academic and political circles. This begs the question what can be
added to the dialog which might prove meaningful? The answer lies
in the value of a dialectic in which new and often better ideas emerge
from different views of a given issue. This paper is written in hope
of contributing to the current dialectic surrounding the perils to the
American Creed.
Sitting in church on a Sunday morning
I listened as my pastor preached a sermon
from Luke 13: 1-9 about the biblical fig
tree. It reminded me that I had frequently
referenced this parable in my upper level
American Political Culture class. The point
of my reference was to draw a comparison
of the roots of a tree to our nation’s political
values system. Like the roots of a fruit tree
which provides subsidence and stability so
very necessary for the tree to bear fruit, our
nation is largely dependent on the roots of
our value system if we are to bear the fruits of our democracy. What
is so marvelous about the fig tree and makes it different from the
average fruit tree is not what one sees above the ground, but rather
that part of the tree which exists below ground…its system of roots.
The fig tree has the deepest root system of any tree in the world. As
our nation goes through what many consider a crisis of American
values, it is appropriate to re-examine the status of our root system,
those political values which provided the impetus for our Founding
and early recognition among our forbearers that they were a unique
people. They were Americans.
A re-examination of our political values is particularly important
because as a people we have primarily been defined and united by
our commitment to political principles. Unlike other countries that
define themselves in terms of their racial, ethnic, and religious or
some other cultural factor, the basis of American’s national identity
is political ideas, an American Creed, which was present at the
Founding, sustained us through internal and external conflicts and
allowed us to evolve into an exceptional nation defined by principles
not ascription. Now many believe we are in midst of a harsh, divisive
political environment which threatens the sum and substance of who
we are as a people. Observers of this peril to our identity have been
An excerpt from The American Creed at Risk:
The Clash of Egalitarianism, Community and Individualism
By Bill Shendow
Editor’s Note:
This is an excerpt from a 36 page paper on the American Creed written by William Shendow, the political science chair
at Shenandoah University. We plan to publish a shorter, 25- page version of the paper on our website.
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