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Independent Minds
Just this week we witnessed the phenomenal product launch of the new iPhone. Americans of all ages waited in long lines to claim the first offering of these hot consumer products. These gadgets will purportedly produce a transformative leap in people’s ability to connect with one another. At first glance one might view these purchases as just another example of consumerism run amuck.
Meanwhile, the daily calls continue from all corners for an end to the American occupation of Iraq. President Bush views such calls as a “Cut and Run” mentality. His opponents say it’s time for our troops to come home. And yet, no matter the bumper sticker slogan one chooses to sum up their own heart-felt point-of-view, the reality of war and terrorism and global mistrust was front page news yet again this week when terrorists in London sought to destroy innocent lives. News from Scotland the following day only reinforced all our fears.
This past Sunday the top story in The Washington Post reported on a new poll that found one-third of American voters self identify as political “independents.” But the survey suggested that this group is hardly monolithic. Independent voters, the survey says, fall into a variety of small subgroups. The bottom line: No one appeal will work for the entire group, thus no one can be taken for granted.
Finally, later this week, Live Earth will bring people together from a host of far-flung places from here at home and abroad. People’s goal: show their support for a new environmental ethos. But, one must wonder, where did all these people come from?
Obviously, the world is changing and fast. For quite sometime I have argued that such changes have prompted people to retreat into close knit circles of families and friends. But that doesn’t mean people want to give up on public life and politics or that they don’t see a need to come together to address common challenges. Most Americans are neither apathetic nor indifferent to our common affairs. They care.
Indeed, look around and you’ll see that many signs today point to Americans trying to reconnect and establish new relationships. What I take away from recent news is the following: Americans are in search of answers to two fundamental questions in their lives.
• First, how can they create a new sense of community amid the fractures and fragments of our current ways of life?
• Second, how can they find re-entry points back into public life and politics?
The very idea of “independence” is to be free from unwanted forces and to self-govern. On this July 4th we should recognize that people’s moves to declare their independence – from political parties, terrorism, global warming, porous borders, and other unwanted forces – is not an attempt merely to separate themselves from these problems. Rather, it is the very expression of a deep yearning to reconnect with one another and to feel a sense of agency. What we can see is people looking for new ways to practice self-governance in a society driven by too much cynicism, hate, and disconnects.
So, for me, the message from Americans on this July 4th is clear and rooted in something quite revolutionary: people want be part of something larger than themselves and believe once more that they can make a difference. I suspect that’s one of the messages coming through clearly from those new swanky iPhones.