When I watched President Obama’s inaugural speech today, I was struck by how he tied the speech together by the idea of what we do together, as “We, the people.” And I have to say, I think John Dewey would have found a lot to like in his fellow faculty member of the University of Chicago.
Dewey often wrote that that individual freedom and collective action relied on one another. The work we do as a society creates the environment and conditions in which individuals make their choices and have the opportunity to achieve their goals. The decisions of individuals to participate in society with their unique perspectives and talents makes that society function. President Obama and others talked about during the campaign; Elizabeth Warren talked about it, and the President got some flak for the way he phrased his “You didn’t build that” comments about infrastructure and education. I think that today he captured that idea very well in this paragraph:
But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.
Dewey also stressed that democracy is about more than electoral institutions, but in the ongoing participation of citizens in deciding the future of our society. President Obama stressed that idea at the close of his speech:
They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time — not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.
I’ll be very interested in seeing how the president uses his retooled campaign organization, now called Organizing for Action, to encourage that participation. I expect, and I hope, that he will use it to encourage citizens to raise their voices in support of these ideas:
It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- (applause) — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — (applause) — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.
It’s an ambitious checklist, for sure. But it’s a fine vision for an America that is more truly democratic. I’d say that day 1 of four more years was a definite success.