President Obama's Politics of Dignity
America is broken. Even if we pull through the current economic crisis, recovery won't last absent an overhaul of our primary institutions.
• One out of ten Americans is now unemployed and the recovery is expected to be jobless.
• Fifty million Americans have no health insurance; two million, no home.
• Two million Americans are in jail.
• Our public schools have fallen behind those of most developed nations.
• Higher education is priced out of reach of the middle class.
• Our infrastructure is in an advanced state of disrepair.
• We rank first in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Immigration, once our pride, is now our shame.
• We're living on credit and leaving the debt to our children.
The crisis is compounded by corruption of the democratic process. Politicians who owe their seats to private and corporate money are not easily persuaded to put the public interest over the special interests of their benefactors.
If our predicament were one in which there was an emergent consensus about the proper remedy, President Obama might be able to orchestrate an epochal makeover -- as President Johnson did in the civil rights crisis. Most Americans knew then that African-Americans were victims of racism and that segregation was wrong. But today, reformers are themselves divided and many of the issues are of such complexity as to defy broad public comprehension.
Despite his formidable rhetorical gifts, President Obama has yet to tell us how to repair our broken institutions. But he may be doing something equally important. He may be showing us the way. America's problems run deep, and solutions will have to be grounded in a new politics--the politics of dignity.
President Obama is a herald of the politics of dignity. He's an instinctive dignitarian. Not libertarian, not egalitarian. Dignitarian. It matters not when and how he acquired his dignitarian manner, or that he may not conform to it one hundred percent of the time. What matters is that in his personal relations and political positions he sets an example of respecting human dignity, regardless of role or rank.
It was Obama's inclusiveness that first brought him to national attention. As the keynote speaker of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, then Illinois State Senator Obama struck a dignitarian note. In asking us to see ourselves not as citizens of red states or blue states, but rather as citizens of the United States, Obama gave us a preview of a new politics of dignity that can extricate us from our current crises. The dignitarian politics that seems to come naturally to President Obama represents not a compromise, but a synthesis of libertarian and egalitarian politics, and in doing so provides an analysis that reconciles conservatism and liberalism.
Dignity for whom? you ask. Dignity for all. For blacks and whites, for men and women, for gays and straights, for young and old, for rich and poor, for immigrants and the native-born, for conservatives and progressives. Obama is also trying to engage friend and foe alike in a global dignitarian dialogue. Dignity for all.
What is the politics of dignity that President Obama exemplifies? It goes far beyond good manners, respect, and civility, though it includes these. Dignity is achieved by methodically eliminating indignities -- interpersonal, institutional, societal, and international.
The American people know that indignities their nation has inflicted on the world have diminished America's stature. And, they know that the daily humiliations that they and their fellow citizens are enduring are incompatible with lives of dignity and signify institutional failure.
How could Obama's presidency address the indignities that manifest as unemployment, corporate corruption, failed schools, no health insurance, foreclosure, homelessness, recidivism, and the subversion of our democracy by moneyed special interests?
To combat indignity, we need to be clear about its cause. The cause of indignity is not power, nor is it power differences. It is rather the abuse of power. To oppose indignity, we do not have to eliminate differences in power, nor the differences in rank that merely reflect them. Persons of high rank who treat their subordinates with dignity are admired, if not loved.
Rank, in itself, is not the culprit. The problem is rank abuse, and it has grown to epidemic proportions. Abuses of rank have no place in a dignitarian world. Taking a page from the women's movement, if we are to combat rank abuse effectively, we must give it a distinctive name, preferably one that puts perpetrators on the defensive. By analogy with racism, sexism, and ageism, abuse of the power inherent in rank is rankism. Once you have a name for it, you see it everywhere.
The outrage over bonuses for failed Wall Street executives is indignation over rankism. The power of lobbyists to override the democratic will of the people is rankism. The deregulation of the financial industry, which made a virtue of self-aggrandizement and facilitated predatory loans and Ponzi schemes, led to the financial ruin of millions and created the worst recession in four score years.
As racism denigrated and disadvantaged blacks, and sexism disenfranchised and restricted women, so rankism marginalizes and exploits the working poor, keeping them in their place while their low pay effectively subsidizes everyone else. As class membranes become less permeable, resignation, cynicism, and indignation mount.
An America in which the American Dream has become a mirage is not an America worthy of the name. The achievability of that dream is what made this country the envy of the world and made us, its citizens, proud. Making that dream good again is a challenge comparable to overcoming the second-class citizenship that has limited blacks, women, gays, and others. Building a dignitarian society is democracy's next evolutionary step.
A dignitarian society will naturally conduct itself differently on the world stage. Nowhere is rankism more dangerous than in foreign relations. International terrorism has multiple, complex causes, but one factor over which we do have a say is rankism between nations. There is no fury like that borne of chronic humiliation. President Obama's demeanor suggests that he understands that a vital part of a strong defense is not giving offense in the first place. His speeches abroad have begun to restore good will toward the United States, and while good will alone does not constitute a national defense, it surely beats the ill- will that we have garnered in recent years.
President Johnson, following his personal instincts, led his fellow countrymen through an about-face on segregation. Much as overcoming a legacy of racism is the work of several generations, so too is the task of building a dignitarian society. President Obama knows that solutions won't arise out of politics as usual. His personification of dignitarian politics resonates not only with Americans but around the world. The next step is to turn from exemplifying the politics of dignity to enunciating its policy implications and molding them into a legislative agenda for a dignitarian America.
Follow Robert Fuller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/robertwfuller
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Fuller has made visible the underlying cause of what has been tilting this country away from its founding principles-"dignity for all"-He has so well pointed out that the dangers of "Rankism" and abuse of power are at the heart of the problem, the root cause. Fuller is giving us the language to rise up as a grassroots movement and demand a "legislative agenda for a dignitarian Ameria." Thanks Robert!
My Dear Mr. Fuller,
Thank you so very much for this intelligent and enlightening essay. You put to words so many of the thoughts that have been swirling in my head of late. For the brief amount of time it took to consume your work, I felt a sense of optimism in these otherwise dark times. Our President is setting an example through his behavior for the entire country, but alas, I fear many may not be watching. Wouldn't it be delightful to see manners and compassion come back into style? One would think that a country this deeply rooted in Christianity would have a more dignified and caring culture. I wish Mr. Obama much success in his attempts not only to heal the nation's ills, but to show us how to be better Americans as well.
Obama should come out and state simply that he is a member of the Old Left.
You don't get it. Remember the phrase: We are not red states or blue states but the United States?
The partisan warriors have been at it for so long they forget that we are all, ultimately, citizens of the United States.
What a thoroughly refreshing post! What we ‘re facing now (and not just in America) are the consequences of reckless and immature human behaviour, and as Einstein already knew “You can’t solve a problem using the same kind of thinking that caused the problem in the first place.” All these frantic attempts to combat any crisis with new policies, laws and amendments, as necessary as they may be, seem to be focussed on treating the symptoms. If we really want to get better we need to tackle the cause of this dis-ease, and that means growing up.
Each major crisis our civilization is currently facing is manmade. It has originated in our beliefs and attitudes, our ideology and our behaviour. To hope that we can solve anything without also changing these beliefs and attitudes is futile, yet this is where all the action is focussed, and where any debate quickly deteriorates into more undignified mud-slinging.
Robert Fuller puts his finger right on it. While it remains to be seen whether President Obama’s political course can lift us out of the quagmire, the man himself models the change most needed. Dignity, accompanied perhaps also by integrity and authenticity, have the power to bring this ship around. Everything else on its own will probably amount to not much more than the proverbial re-arranging of the deck-chairs.
But while Barack Obama is showing the way, we still have to walk it.
The political significance of dignity cannot be exaggerated. Its root sense is "worthy," and the notion that all people are worthy (i.e. equal) is fundamental to the idea of popular sovereignty on which democratic politics is based. Dignity is a crucial concept now because so many Americans do not feel the worth of either their fellow Americans or themselves. That loss of dignity undermines our politics.
Until the end of World War II, white men were entitled to social, political, and economic dominance, and others deferred (more or less graciously) to that position. In the decades since, that comfortable position has been stripped from white men. That seismic shift in the order of things acknowledged the worth of non-whites and women, but it also undermined the structures within which individual Americans understood their own worth. A vital democratic polity rests ultimately on the assurance of his or her own dignity that each member feels. We suffer from a bad case of injured dignity.
Obama’s “We the people” speech in Philadelphia spoke directly to that problem, and his campaign and his conduct in office have offered a model for the rest of us. A refreshed sense of our own dignity and of the dignity of others will not directly solve policy problems, but it will certainly do much to enable us to work on solutions.
Obama's dignity, and his respect for the dignity of others, is key to his success. What an interesting contrast to GW Bush, come to think of it, whose compulsive nick-naming seems like a kind of dis-respect.
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I, too, see compulsive nick-naming as cloaking disrespect. It feels patronizing to me. Condescension and patronizing behavior is rankist behavior. Perpetrators are arrogating unto themselves the right to label others. Done from grandpa to grandson, no problem, at least usually. But done between adults, while presented as "just joking around," it smacks of the nick-namer asserting a kind of subtle dominance over the namee. I doubt that many of the people who received nick-names from President Bush reciprocated with a nick-name for him.
Lets build a movement to get this message heard!
Right on! Fuller is exactly right that "rankism" lies at the heart of the economic and social crises in America today.
Why are we so unwilling to discuss rank or class (a form of rank) in the U.S.? It seems to me that it's at least in part due to the adulation of the individual that is so central to American culture. The notion that we are all self-made, that success is solely a measure of how hard you work and how much ingenuity you possess is such a deeply ingrained belief that few of us are even aware we hold it. The logical next step is that if you are unsuccessful, if you are struggling you must not have worked hard enough. No wonder, we find it so difficult to talk about rank, much less rankism.
Yes, Obama exemplifies dignity, both in how he carries himself and how he treats others. If he is to be effective he needs a massive grassroots movement to recognize and route out rankism. I suggest that everyone who reads this article use the world "rankism" in a conversation this week. It needs to become part of the national psyche.
I agree, this piece should be on the front page.
A few months ago, I got in the elevator in my building, and saw the cleaner in there, a woman from Central America, with her young son in tow. The kid smiled at me. So I said, "Don't ever forget how hard your Mom works to take care of you. So make something of yourself." The woman smiled and blushed. And her son said, "Like President Obama?" I almost wept when he said that.
When Obama said "As-Salamu Alaykum" in Cairo, for the first time in recent history, an American President showed respect for an entire culture, and increased the dignity of the Muslim world. Those words will do more for bringing peace to the Mideast, than $10 billion in foreign aid.
We are truly witnessing the birth of a new and more enlightened world, based on dignity for all.
Right on, Bob Fuller! May the Dignitarian Movement be the centerpiece of the Obama administration.
Insightful opinion from Robert Fuller about a new approach to repairing our broken institutions, with a focus on human dignity, regardless or role, rank, race or creed. This article presents his views thoughtfully, citing concrete examples of rank abuse to back his point that "a dignitarian society is democracy's next evolutionary step."
See our review of this article on Newstrust, our social news network devoted to good journalism:
http://new
If you find this interesting, check out Bob's books 'Somebodies and Nobodies' or 'All Rise' on his site: http://bre
Fighting rankism seems like a fundamental cause that both liberals and conservatives could agree on.
I am a fan of Bob's work, and fully support his resolute commitment to establish dignity as a fundamental principle to guide our next steps towards a stronger democracy.
When I voted for Obama, I voted for hope and change. I lacked hope and desired change because I live in a state of constant indignity. I want steady employment and security in meeting life's basic needs - housing, food, etc. I want the quality of life, including access to cultural goods, available to the poorest in this country. Health care reform is an important first step, but that hasn't even been accomplished yet.
If Obama doesn't bring change, I and many others remain without hope or dignity. I hope Obama takes his mandate as the President of hope, change, and dignity for all seriously.
Dr. Fuller has invited us to make a paradigm shift in the way we understand and practice social relationships, as exemplified by President Obama. But when will Fuller's vision of a dignitarian society become a fundamental chapter in our national discourse? What will it take for us to incorporate the tenets of dignitarianism in our daily lives? And, too, how can we get the message out?
Of course, we need to fully comprehend the implications of a dignitarian society, but then we mustn't rest on our laurels. We need to consider ways in which we can begin to make these changes ourselves. Perhaps teach-ins, using Fuller's books, could be one way, but there must be others. If readers have any ideas, please send them to the address on the Contact Us page of: www.breaki
Bob Fuller has me asking, "President Obama, what can I do for my dignitarian America."
SOMEONE should note that dignitarianism is the umbrella, the mother of all anti-isms from racism to ageism. Treat everyone with dignity and ALL common exploitations of humans disappear. Fuller's genius is to distill this central idea.
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