America’s Crisis in Civic Virtue

“Arepublic, if you can keep it.” That was Benjamin Franklin’s famous response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” as he left the just-concluded Constitutional Convention on 17 September 1787. 1 We have been trying to keep it ever since. For Alexis de Tocqueville in the early nineteenth century, democracy was the nation’s defining characteristic, giving him the title of his most famous book, Democracy in America . U.S. leaders have promoted democratic values at home and around the world as superior to all others for almost 250 years through diplomacy, development, and military action as well as cultural and intellectual institutions — including this very journal. And yet, it seems that millions of Americans have lost confidence in this traditional American “brand.” According to a June 2023 survey, almost half of Americans say they believe that our democracy is working “not too well” or “not at all.” 2 The year before, 62 percent had agreed with the proposition that “American democracy is currently under threat.” 3 What is provoking this identity crisis? Predictably during a time of extreme political polarization, many say, “the other party.” Indeed, in that same June 2023 poll, about half (47 percent) said the Democrats were doing a “somewhat bad” or “very bad” job upholding democracy, while 56 percent said this about the Republicans. In 2021, a huge majority (85 percent) of Americans surveyed said they believed that their nation’s political system “needs to be completely reformed” or “needs major changes.” 4 Another common explanation is our economic system: Many blame modern capitalism for democracy’s problems. The free-enterprise system, the argument goes, empowers greed and corruption and gives a wealthy minority too much control over our political system and laws. 5 Whenever voters seem set to push for income redistribution or higher taxes, corporations and the rich use their outsized leverage to frustrate the democratic will. This blocking of democracy eventually reduces public faith in our institutions. 6 The belief that capitalism subverts democracy is not limited to the left, however, especially recently. Those calling themselves “national conservatives” make many of the same arguments. Their basic complaint, which gained traction with Donald Trump’s presidency, is that global capitalism harms ordinary Americans by outsourcing jobs and insourcing immigrant workers. Homegrown workers find themselves devalued and disenfranchised, victims of cozy — and decidedly nondemocratic — relationships between moneyed elites and policymakers. 7 The answer, for critics of capitalism both left and right, is stronger government control of economic institutions so that they can resist elite pressures. Taxes, many of these critics add, should also be more redistributive, and some critics appeal as well for stricter limits on trade and immigration. A recent survey of academic experts’ ideas for balancing capitalism with democracy noted how they all agreed that “the single most important step is re-empowering governments, though they diverge on whether that means more-effective regulation, progressive taxation, wealth taxes, or other measures.” 8 In other words, stronger democracy requires weaker capitalism. This assessment of capitalism’s effect on democracy is incorrect, and thus the policy prescription is misguided. Capitalism as such does not weaken democracy; on the contrary, capitalism can make democracy stronger and more vital. But this only occurs when a third variable — civic virtue, in the form of public honesty and civility — is present. The problem for democracy today is not capitalism; it is a decline in public honesty and civility, which are necessary to govern free markets and are also central to a democratic society. To blame capitalism and weaken it will not solve the problems facing American democracy; instead, it will simply waste time and resources and lower growth and prosperity, while ignoring the problems that truly face us. Continue reading at the Journal of Democracy.