Returning to a Less Fragmented America

According to a Pew report, millennials, more than any other generation, are both averse to organized religion and distrustful of other people.

During the Democratic National Convention of 2012 in Charlotte, the convention host committee ran a TV advertisement:  “We are committed to all people. We do believe you can use government in a good way. The government is the only thing we all belong to. We have different churches, different clubs, but we’re together as a part of our city or our county or our state and our nation.”

The italicized line sent shockwaves through the ranks of the conservative media, and many Republican politicians latched onto this hysteria to blast Democrats that election season. Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) declared during a fundraiser that “President Barack Obama absolutely believes we belong to him. He believes that we are just pawns to be moved around his giant chessboard of government.”

Although Mr. Christie’s retort may be straw man that does not follow context, the advertisement nevertheless reveals two ideas on the Left about government and society. The first is the emphasis that government, if done right, can achieve great good in society. The second has to do with the concept that government is what ultimately binds us together as one community. Our different social circles and affiliations may be the dividing lines in our social fabric, but government is what brings us together.

The vision these ideas seem to imply is one of the government being a sustaining and uniting agent in our society. While this explains a lot of the policy goals of the Left and the desire to expand the government’s role in the lives of individuals, it fails to recognize the importance of the civil institutions that form our social fabric. This is all taking place as an increasing number of people become unmoored from these institutions.