Not Made In America

The other day Senator Obama made reference to the desirability--no, the need to redistribute wealth in America. As the Geek watched the video of the encounter between the Senator and the plumber, he was reminded for an instant of another senator in another run for the Oval.

More than seventy years ago, Louisiana senator Huey (Kingfish) Long made a strong populist run against FDR which was terminated not at the polls but by bullets. The centerpiece of the Kingfish's campaign was "share the wealth." He proposed to assure every American a decent life by taxing the rich and passing the proceeds among the non-rich majority.

Not surprisingly Long's notion had a great deal of popularity. He even backed it by alleging as did Senator Obama that sharing the wealth would stimulate employment and business expansion.

Egalitarianism has a long history in the American view of life. The ideal of equality is embedded not only in our jurisprudence, it has become a part of our defining mythology.

Equality under law may be said to constitute a critical component of an authentically American ideology. It is an ideal which the nation has pursued in fits and starts for the entire history of our country. Some day we may achieve the ideal in practice.

Political equality is in the same category. Slowly, but certainly the nation has expanded the franchise and still aspires to limit--if not eliminate--the advantage that copious gobs of money gives some Americans in the political process.

Social equality is also part of our defining made-in-America ideology. We have never accepted deference as the natural role of any American. It is one of the hidden strengths of the long rejected draftee based military.

Economic equality is not a part of any made-in-America ideology. We long have espoused equality of economic opportunity. Remember the phrase "pursuit of happiness" in that magnificent piece of political propaganda, The Declaration of Independence?

Equality of economic or any other sort of opportunity does not and never has in the authentic American ideology guaranteed equality of outcome.

Equality of outcome, particularly equality of economic outcome, is a central portion of several foreign made political ideologies. It is part and parcel of Fascism, National Socialism, Communism and the dominant creed of post-war Western Europe, Democratic Socialism.

Senator Obama's comment to Joe the plumber was redolent not so much of Huey Long's hallucination of a long, long lifetime ago as it is of today's Western European elite.

It's no wonder that the Nice Young Man From Chicago was such a hit with the Europeans last spring. Heck, it would have been more of a wonder if he hadn't been.

To put it simply, Senator Obama speaks their language. He espouses their dominant political ideals. He was just as good a European as Angela Merkel or Nick Sarkozy.

European origin ideologies have held a deep appeal for many Americans for many, many decades. No shock here, we are a nation of immigrants. Also, many of these ideologies have an inherent appeal since they loop nicely with some of the centralities of the American life.

There are, however, two factors which serve to strongly characterise the authentically American ideology which are not found in the various "isms" made-in-Europe.

We are, and have been throughout our history, a nation of individuals. While there are times when the focus on individualism seems to be carried too far, it should never be overlooked that the American people have been repeatedly seen by foreigners as unique in their capacity for voluntary cooperative action.

As individuals we act, contend, succeed, and fail. As individuals we either take or choose not to take advantage of any or all equal opportunities.

Then there is that elusive thing called "freedom." Freedom, like its kin "liberty" have often been hard to define, difficult to appreciate no matter how easy they are to say--or to lose. Over the centuries we have often seen freedom and liberty only after they have been taken away. Or gleefully tossed aside in the search for security.

The inventors and practitioners of Democratic Socialism come from a historical context in which individualism and freedom are not major features. Submitting to the dictates of society as pronounced by government, be it monarchy, dictatorship or parliament is a long standing reality of the European experience.

Even the British who were our progenitors in the individualism and freedom game as illustrated by the brilliance of J.S. Mill and Adam Smith, have shucked that tradition over the past few generations as the search for security grew ever more potent. Countries of British ancestry such as Canada and Australia have also willfully eroded the historical trajectory of individualism and freedom as their societies came under stress and sought the refuge of government arranged security.

For reasons too lengthy and complex to be considered in the context of a single post, the left or progressive sector of the Democratic Party of which Senator Obama is a proud member has embraced an ideological agenda which was made-in-Europe not America. While many European plants have flourished in American soil, it is doubtful that this one will do so.

The question confronting Americans today is the same as that which presented itself to our British progenitors and cousins in Canada and Australia. Will we surrender the primacy of the individual and the freedom of the individual in an ultimately futile search for absolute security?

Will we spread the wealth of our individuality, our freedom, until they disappear as any but the thinnest of films?

Will we become the Europeans of the Western Hemisphere?