In Federalist 26 Alexander Hamilton makes the case for the provision in the proposed new U.S. Constitution that every two years Congress bears responsibility for providing money for a standing military.
He contends that those who support restraining the legislative authority of Congress for this purpose have “a zeal for liberty more ardent than enlightened.”
By extension Hamilton was saying that zeal for liberty so fervent and intense as to be devoid of knowledge and information was endangering the future of the country by resisting the Constitution that would establish a central government that had real power.
To be honest, I find it stunning that the Constitution did actually get ratified. James Madison wrote in Federalist 10 that anti-Constitution “factions” as he called them because of their radical view on states-rights had to be defeated rather than persuaded to change their minds because they never would.
Therein is a lesson for us today as well.
But ratification did not eliminate the zeal for liberty so ardent as to be devoid of enlightened understanding. Throughout American history individuals have shown utter disregard for the common good in the name of their individual rights.
At various times we have paid a high price when they have been successful. Our nation’s failure to have sensible gun laws is a modern example. There is no rhyme or reason for a policy that allows an unrestrained and unmonitored sale of guns and assault weapons except to contribute to the United States being the most violent Westen nation on earth.
That same absence of rhyme or reason is at work in the virtually out of control spread of the coronavirus we are seeing that once again sets us apart in a very negative way from other Western countries. There is a reason the United States with its 330 million people has failed miserably in containing the virus while the European Union with its 443 million people has succeeded in bringing it under control.
It’s all about an ardent zeal for individual liberty bereft of knowledge and reason that puts it above concern for the community. That zeal is about “me” and nothing about “we.”
Trump is feeding this ardent zeal, but the problem is bigger than he is. It encompasses the entire modern Republican Party whose primary concern is personal freedom at the expense of the common good.
In May, for example, 73% of Democrats supported the government requiring masks, but only 59% of Republicans did (conducted by Gabriel R. Sanchez of the University of New Mexico and Edward D. Vargas of the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University).
Republicans want wearing masks to be an individual choice, ignoring the empirical evidence that voluntary compliance has limited value precisely because those same Republicans won’t wear them. It also ignores another significant factor that evidence proves wearing masks slows down the virus’ spread, i.e., the European Union.
Minnesota has been reasonably successful in coping with the virus. We are currently in a stable position, but the governor is considering imposing a state-wide-mandatory masks policy if current trends continue that threaten to upend the progress we have made in controlling the virus.
He is concerned about places like the small suburb of Edina that had only 227 cases for a three-month period ending June 24, but in the last two weeks has already had 154, the dramatic increase mostly among Edina teenagers.
Before June 24 the median age of COVID-19 cases was 57. As of this writing, it is 20, and the cause for this stunning development is socializing. Contact tracing has found that kids are contracting the virus through house parties, bonfires, cabin trips, and organized sports.
They just want to have fun and believe they should have the right to do so. Of course, they should, except that in exercising their right to have fun they are putting their entire city and state at risk of another major outbreak of the virus that could kill more people.
A retired Edina physician commented that he doesn’t see much hope that these kids are going to change their habits. They are too young and immature to understand the threat they are posing, despite the warnings. Without an immediate change in their social behavior, he said quite bluntly, “until we get a vaccine a lot of us are going to die.”
The problem we are talking about is obviously not rocket science because Alexander Hamilton understood it in 1787. When zeal for liberty is more ardent than it is enlightened, you’re headed for trouble.
That’s exactly where we are as a country – in trouble, close to reaching the point of no return where a vaccine will be our only hope.
It’s not like we don’t know what we can do to turn things around. The European Union has. South Korea has. New Zealand has. Other countries have.
The United States is the laggard state.
And it is more than a little obvious why we are. Too many Republicans have an ardent zeal for individual liberty that puts itself above all other concerns.
For religious people like me, the issue is about being a good neighbor. The great irony is that evangelical Christians have embraced ardent zeal for liberty above being a good neighbor.
Turns out, they really don’t know much about the Bible after all, especially the part where Jesus says the whole law is summed up in two commandments – to love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:37-40: see also Galatians 5:14 and Romans 10:8-10).
No surprise, really, since evangelical Republicans are Republican first and Christian second. That is why they choose Trump’s focus on everyone’s individual liberty not to wear a mask over the teachings of Jesus.
There’s not much we can do about evangelicals or Republicans in general, of course. When Dr. Anthony Fauci reportedly said the other day, “I don’t know how to help you be a good neighbor,” he spoke for all of us.
It might help, though, if evangelical preachers would be more Christian and less Republican by actually preaching what Jesus said instead of Trump’s gospel.
In the meantime, all is not lost. Just this week the CDC chose the common good over ardent individual liberty when it reported to the President that it would not be revising its guidelines for school openings in the fall as he insisted.
Score one for the country, none for Trump.
linnposts.com 
I submitted this to our local paper but it didn’t get published. I just finished reading a short but powerful book written by Robert B. Reich, titled, “The Common Good” (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018) that caught my eye when I was walking through the library on the campus of Bellarmine University. The book was in the recommended reading display. I picked it up because I have felt recently that our concept of “the common good” has been absent not only in our public discourse but also in our present corporate behavior.
Certainly, one of the consequences of the corona virus pandemic has been the call upon citizens of the United States (and elsewhere) to act and behave with the health and well being of others in mind. It has called forth the “Golden Rule,” a principle that has been at the center of both Judeo-Christian teachings and our present legal system.
What is disturbing, however, is the recent pushback from people who apparently have rejected the principle of the common good in favor of some type of libertarian philosophy that promotes individual freedom and rights at any cost. At first blush, the desire for freedom may seem a basic tenet of the American way of life but upon further examination, the concept is grounded in a social contract that requires limitations in deference to the “common good.” Only in Janis Joplin’s “Bobby McGee” is freedom just another word for nothin’ left to lose.
Reich’s book traces the origins of the now oft-missing concept of the good common and warns of a society that continues with its absence. In conclusion, he writes, “the common good, as I have emphasized, is a set of shared commitments—to the rule of law and to the spirit as well as the letter of the law; to our democratic institution of government; to truth; to tolerance of our differences; to equal political rights and equal opportunity; to participating in our civic life, and making sacrifices for the ideals we hold in common.” He continues, “We must share these commitments if we are to have a functioning society. They inform our judgments about right and wrong because they constitute our common good. Without them, there is no “we.”
In many ways, the corona virus pandemic has rallied many of us to reclaim the benefit of the common good because we realize we are dependent upon one another to conquer the devastation COVID-19 brings to bear. We rally around the cry that we are in this together. We reclaim the “we.” At the same time, there is another virus that is spreading that wishes to defile and destroy the concept of the common good and replace it with a “me first at all costs to you” mentality. This virus needs to be arrested if we are to survive this period of onslaught and remain “one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.” That’s part of the pledge of allegiance we all memorized and recited everyday as school children.
Let’s bring back the common good for good with all its benefits and contain the virus that threatens it. Without the common good leading the way, we will become good for nothing.
Dean, your article is a helpful corollary statement to what I wrote. And it also shows, setting aside all pride and humility, that great minds think alike. Thank you for sharing it here.
A good analysis of the tensions between individual freedom and common good can be found in E. J. Dionne’s “Our Divided Political Heart,” published almost 7 years ago, now. His main idea is that the two need to be in balance and dialogue & when they’re not, we’re in trouble. I think we’re in trouble.
I read that when it first came out, Charlie. Good read. Thanks.
Jan, this is a remarkable description of what I consider to be one of the top three causes of division and divisiveness in America today. And your ability to write with such accuracy, clarity and justification is a gift that, more Americans need to here as we go forward toward the election. As you know, I am working on a book titled “What Caused the Great Divide in America” Chapter Three is titled: “Lack of a Common Purpose that Reflects America’s Common Good.” I have read Robert Reich’s book that is referenced by one of your responders and I quote Reich in this chapter of my book. Much of what I am writing about is consistent with what you are saying in this post. But the clearest example of the gift that you have, is defining the clear contrast between “the common good” and the unjustified pursuit of “individual rights” on the part of Trump and the Republican Party. Thank you for putting this “dilemma” in such clear and truthful terms. Again, I wish more Americans could understand what you have written today.
Thank you for your affirming response, John. My analysis, though, is rooted in Hamilton’s brilliance. That his wisdom is a relevant today as it was 250 years ago is nothing short of stunning. I look forward to reading your book.
Well said Jan. The greed demonstrated by individuals who champion individual rights over being a good neighbor is quite revealing. We are a very sick and selfish society.
Wilbur, I am still amazed by the brazen hypocrisy of evangelicals Christians who come down on the side of individual rights for themselves in their desire to practice discrimination, but want to impose their version of community standards on everyone to get their way on issues like abortion.
I think this points to the underlying issue with our country. We are a government founded on the overthrow of a government. We never really hashed out a social contract in full. The ideals were laid out, but the practical nuts and bolts of how we live together never were. When things don’t go our way, the talk is burn it all down and start over. Drain the Swamp on the right. Abolish the Police on the left.
How shall we talk to one another? How can we live into the promise and not the unresolved tension? O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
-Langstone Hughes
Luke, the words “both/and” came to mind when I read your comment. There has to be some balance in the tension between liberty and the common good. Thank you for the words of Langstone Hughes.