Legal Commentary

Twenty years ago, Robert D. Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, published "Bowling Alone," which documented how Americans had become increasingly disconnected from one another; how participation in social and community organizations, from bridge clubs to churches, had plummeted; and how norms of reciprocity, honesty, and trust had steadily declined across society.... [Putnam's] new book, ?The Upswing?... argues that increasing levels of social solidarity in the course of the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, followed by a sharp decline at the end of it, largely track with a number of other important trends, including the country?s degree of political polarization.... Economic mobility stalled [in the 1960s], community and family ties frayed, and American culture turned inward, losing focus on the common good. He labels this pattern the ?I-we-I? curve, arguing that America clambered from an individualistic ?I? society to a more communitarian ?We? ethos, only to revert back. 

In Putnam?s work, Biden might find a road map for national restoration, one that involves collective effort and a fostering of a collective American identity. ?No one party, no one policy or platform, and no one charismatic leader was responsible for bringing about America?s upswing as we entered the twentieth century,? Putnam writes. ?It was, instead, countless citizens engaging in their own spheres of influence and coming together to create a vast ferment of criticism and change??a genuine shift from ?I? to ?we.? ? Similarly, it is wishful thinking to imagine that Biden, or any single individual, could engender a movement for the common good. But, if anything has been made plain by the Trump era, it is that the Presidency offers a megaphone to shape the broader culture. A narcissistic President drives a narcissistic culture. A movement toward ?We? in America could start with a President less focussed on ?I.?