In an effort to start making
sense of what is an indisputably confusing situation, we asked some
of the most thoughtful people we know the question: How will America
change as a result of the economic downturn? Here are Robert Gordon
and James Kvaal, senior fellows at the Center for American Progress
Action Fund.
Hard economic times usually
hit not only our wallets, but also our spirits. Charitable giving goes
down. And as Benjamin Friedman has
explained, racial
tension and nativist sentiment go up.
Friedman noted one great exception
in American history, though, and it's the Great Depression. In recent
weeks, experts have talked about the New Deal for its contributions
to financial regulation, like the FDIC and the SEC. But at least as
important to Americans 75 years ago were projects that engaged them
more directly as citizens: the "boys" building schools and
blazing trails, the blue eagles in shop windows, the murals. Unlike
the War on Poverty three decades later, this was not an affluent society
doing its duty. It was a broken society saving itself through work together.
Roosevelt had said in his first inaugural, "These dark days will
be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is
not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow
men." So they did.
Friedman speculates about a
few reasons why the Depression, unlike other difficult times in our
history, led to a rebirth of civic spirit: the bankruptcy of conservatism,
the buoyant leadership of Roosevelt, the utter vulnerability of most
of the population.
Could a similar spirit move
us now? While Bush botched his chance to call the "9/11 generation"
to service, people clearly want to make a difference. More than 26 percent
of Americans volunteered in 2007, just missing the record since
data collection began in 1974, and six points higher than in 1989. Of
special importance for the future, college students' political engagement
and voluntarism are at record
levels. And young
people aren't just doing service; they are building organizations,
with support from foundations like Echoing Green and Ashoka.
In a tight economy, the young
idealists could use a hand from Washington. Ted Kennedy and, of all
people, Orrin Hatch, recently introduced a national service bill together,
and an expanded commitment on this front is one of the few things on
which Obama and McCain agree. Given a chance to contribute, and not
just to sit by while big brains rewrite banking laws in Washington,
a "9/22 generation"--named after the day when the scale of
this crisis became clear--may yet emerge.
One focus of their effort already
is energy. The urgency about global warming and "energy independence"
is striking, even compared to four years ago. Jimmy Carter was mocked
for calling Americans to conserve more energy, but if the next president
does not call for greater conservation, he will be the one mocked. We
may as well think big: The original "green jobs" program, FDR's
Civilian Conservation Corps, planted three billion trees.
One thing that shouldn't stand
in the way is money. The deficit is expected to reach three percent
of the economy in 2009. Even with the bailout package and a weaker economy,
it is unlikely to pass the five percent deficit we saw in the early
1990s or the six percent deficit in 1934. Likewise our national debt
is now only about 40 percent of our economy, compared to nearly 50 percent
of the economy 15 years ago. We can afford a package that will lift
our economy and our spirits, if that's what we choose.
E.J. Dionne just pointed out that Barack Obama's
argument for hope against fear sounds a bit like FDR's. But so too
does his call for engaged citizens to restore America's promise. Especially
these days, a little civic service beats the hell out of tracking your
401(k).
--Robert Gordon and James
Kvaal
RELATED: Andrew J. Bacevich, Alan Brinkley, Michael Lind, Steven Pinker, and Alan Wolfe offer their answers to the question.