Chaos and the New American Identity: Transcending the Outdated Narrative
This is the last article in a four-part series by Evolve Governance on American identity.
By Amanda Kadlec, Ilan Cooper & Joe Long
American identity at an individual and a community level is becoming increasingly fractured. The convergence of rising social, economic, and demographic inequality alongside the rise of social media and its role in amplifying misinformation continuously degrades many components of social cohesion.
But is that really such a big problem? According to social construction and democratization theorists, a sense of common identity is foundational to the construction of the modern nation-state. In an America torn between extremes, with the value of democratic governance thrown into question by a third of its citizens, how should policymakers and citizens cope with the reality of a potentially broken American identity? What will emerge to fill the void and serve as the new American identity?
To sustain a healthy democratic society on such a fractured foundation will be increasingly difficult, especially with a top-down bureaucratic approach alone. As new approaches to governance by citizens and non-state actors gain traction, a new American identity tied less to the past and more to its future may be the best solution.
Liberty and Justice for All
In the past, the pride that Americans took in their country as an innovative governing experiment provided a foundational unifying concept of American identity. The founders’ ability to split from monarchical rule, complete a transfer of power, and establish a fully elected government at that time in history was radical and innovative. However, although every person had the right to participate in theory, only wealthy white men were legally permitted to vote or to hold positions of power for the first half of this nation’s history, and even today systemic issues of racism and voter suppression continue to plague the American democratic ideal. Two hundred and fifty years in, it is now time to reassess and redesign the rule book with enlightened thinking for the modern era.
Convincing Americans and policymakers to rethink, reframe, and reshape how their democracy works will not be easy. The nation’s leaders have extolled the virtues of liberal democracy and free markets domestically, and throughout most of the 20th century that narrative bled into foreign policy. In the aftermath of WWII, throughout the Cold War, and up to the Arab Spring — even in light of the failed installation of a democratic order in Iraq in the 2000s — that narrative remained intact and persisted.
Ironically, another of the unifying messages of the American system was its seeming capacity for introspection and change. It was able, so the story went, to become an iteratively more complete version of the lofty ideals set forth in its founding documents. However, even that concept is now under increasing scrutiny. The rise of a more gender-balanced, multiracial polity has had significant trouble interacting with the carefully crafted narrative of the old American success story. Social change and the open mic of instant global communication combined with alternative scripts from global competitors has flipped the switch on the long-established American narrative. The challenge for government and society now will be how to shape and evolve into a new order that is able to establish a unified identity inclusive of the whole, encompassing the full polity and not just a narrowly defined sub-segment.
Citizen Agency
Agency, or citizens’ ability to effect change, is a critical yet often overlooked facet of a well-functioning democracy. Despite the constitutionally protected nature of the individual within the governing institution, citizen agency in the United States varies greatly across socioeconomic, racial, gender, language, and religious distinctions. According to longitudinal polling in recent years, more and more Americans, and particularly Millennials who now lead in many positions across the public and private sectors, are asking if democracy, the governing system on which its identity is founded, is even the best form of government. In March this year, Pew Research found that 65% of Americans believe the governing system is in need of major structural reform or complete overhaul.
This phenomenon is on the rise because the system is not working for many citizens, who feel they lack the agency to have discernible impact to fix the problems. What has always been present in the American political system — bitter politicking and narrow self-interest — clearly reigns unchallenged in Washington. The two-party system of democracy thrives on stark divisions, making little room for a sense of compromise.
Static, siloed, and internally competitive bureaucratic government agencies that recoil at innovative policy approaches form part of the legacy of the systems that are resistant to change and power-sharing. For the state to function, established institutions must maintain their relevance and fortitude. At the same time, institutions must also be dynamic, living bodies capable of adapting to American society’s rapid changes so that the long-standing rifts and pains of its history can be brought to light and healed, allowing a modern order to emerge. America’s institutions have to be able to adapt if we are to keep up with and adjust to changes forged by citizen action while also maintaining internal stability. If this balance falters, America’s democracy — and the foundation on which American identity is deeply rooted — will falter too.
Evolving Identity
So now that the once-unifying concept of the superiority of democratic governance to bring the diverse and fractured polity into one has waned, how are Americans defining themselves as American? The answer may lie somewhere between what always has been, and the multiple pathways through which governance and American identity are evolving.
An entrenched past is conjoining with a radically different present to present a shock to the system. America’s collapsed sense of self is rooted in its failure to govern across the social, economic, political, environmental, and security spheres. Gun violence, soaring basic healthcare costs, diminished quality of life, gerrymandering, infrastructure inequality, increasing natural disasters, forever wars, and misinformation through social media are impacting Americans daily lives, while their ability to impact policy around them through the levers of power granted to them through democratic government seem increasingly distant and inaccessible. Most citizens feel deeply disconnected from the policies hashed out in Washington. Perhaps what America needs now is another radical, innovative departure from the existing order. One that is realistic and applicable for a society that strives to more fairly distribute power, wealth, and agency.
Evolving Governance
How could this actually happen? Indicators are actually quite promising amid the doom and gloom. While Pew found that two-thirds of Americans see a need for deep structural change in government, 56% believe that the ordinary citizen can do ‘a lot’ to influence it. Americans are already enacting change through the avenues of agency that are available to them. From social impact and social entrepreneurship in finance or climate change, to localized initiatives innovating solutions to healthcare provision in underserved communities, society and system are being restructured from the bottom up. Moreover, professionals and leaders with decades of experience in conflict resolution and good governance abroad are seeking to apply their skills at home. Additionally, of critical importance, are those brave government officials who are willing to have the hard conversations about how to restructure the political and economic system to make it function for the whole, or who are willing to discuss how to reframe America’s foreign policy in a world that no longer seeks to mimic its ways.
Although Americans are not yet ready agree on how to define the future of their democracy or the parameters around which it should evolve, we aim to move that conversation forward. While formal state institutions maintain the course of the past at the same time as informal non-state actors move forward, it is certain that both will walk out of sync until they are able to merge and become mutually reinforcing agencies of positive change. Citizens, innovators, and government professionals are actively exercising agency in ways that are transcending divisive politics by addressing the issues at hand. Through a renewed sense of purpose and cohesion based on finding solutions to the governance gaps that ail the polity at large, a new and more whole version of American democracy will rise from the conflict of this period and, along with it, perhaps a new identity.
