Common Ground
Canada—US Friendship Flag
North Americans celebrate national birthdays at the beginning of July, with Canada Day on July 1 and Independence Day on July 4. Having lived on both sides of the border, I’ve noticed how cultural differences surface in the names we give our national holidays. Canada Day modestly marks the gradual emergence of a full-fledged country where new citizens still pledge allegiance to the British monarch. Independence Day brashly recalls the revolutionary war-torn birth of a proudly separate nation.
Freedom and Fireworks
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Our national anthems reflect such differences. Canadians sing “with glowing hearts” about their “home and native land,” for which they “stand on guard.” Americans proudly hail a “star-spangled banner” that, “through the perilous fight,” is “so gallantly streaming.” The one anthem strikes a posture of devout watchfulness; the other, a pose of noble independence.
Yet both national anthems emphasize freedom. With downward melodic swoops, Canadians ask God to “keep our land glorious and free.” And, climbing to a nearly unsingable peak, Americans proclaim theirs “the land of the free.” To mark this shared emphasis, both countries annually celebrate their birthdays with earth-shaking fireworks—to the dismay of countless birds and pets, including every one of our three dogs. For their sakes, in early July Joyce and I often want to escape the lands of the free!
Culture Wars
What, besides fascination with fireworks, do North Americans share? When we rise to sing our national anthems, do we stand on common ground? Perhaps you wondered about this when you read “Belonging,” my previous blog post. It’s fine to call, as I did, for colorful coalitions to foster both the integrity of discrete communities and solidarity toward all members of society. But how does that help amid current culture wars over abortion, racism, LGBTQ+ rights, school curriculum, public healthcare, and liberal democracy? Isn’t it naïve to think that somehow, in the words of Rodney King’s haunting plea during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, we can “all get along?”
Yes, it probably is. Powerful political and economic forces in North America thrive on stoking outrage and ridicule or at least spreading the spectacle of public combat, as David Brooks recently noted in The New York Times. Moreover, our current culture wars have unfolded over many decades. It’s no accident that my book Art in Public (2011) begins with the “Culture Wars” of the early 1990s (pp. 3-21).
Building destroyed during 1992 Los Angeles riots
But listen carefully to what Rodney King said. Brutally beaten by the police, he still appealed to what people have in common, across divides of class, race, and raw power. “Stop making it hard” for older people and kids, he pleaded. What’s happening in the riots is “just not right.” We’re all stuck in this situation, so together “let’s try to work it out.” King appealed to a shared sense that the most vulnerable—seniors and children—need special consideration; that all of us are responsible for deeply entrenched problems of poverty and racism, as detailed in a MSNBC 2022 program on the thirtieth anniversary of the L.A. riots; and that, to use the words of Spike Lee’s 1989 film, everyone should just “do the right thing.”
Solidarity and Justice
Rodney King, an African American construction worker, understood better than many politicians and pundits that people share expectations about how life in society should go. We all hope for justice, for example, and get upset when we or others are treated unfairly. All of us also want others to respect us and try somehow to show them respect—that’s the core of what “solidarity” means.
No Justice, No Peace. Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
I call these shared expectations societal principles. They are the common ground on which contemporary society rests. My books discuss them at greater length, including Art in Public (pp. 161-65), Religion, Truth, and Social Transformation (252-76), and Social Domains of Truth (122-34). To recall my post “Philosophy with a Human Heart,” neither cynicism nor legalism will cultivate this common ground. Whereas cynics doubt that people actually care about justice, solidarity, and the like, legalists do not trust them to care in the right way. The cynic says, in effect, there’s no way to exit current cultural warfare. The legalist retorts that there is, but it’s either my way or the highway.
I believe there’s a better way. Across the many conflicts and divisions in contemporary society, we can live up to expectations we share with others about what makes for goodness in social life. We can try to be faithful to societal principles such as solidarity and justice. And we can create colorful coalitions that make such shared expectations ever more tangible in our communities and institutions. That would be a freedom worth singing about: the social freedom for everyone to flourish. Just spare me the fireworks.
“Without wings I can feel free.” Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
