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Our American Elites – Part 1 Puritan vs. Plantation
From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee
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| Chum For Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters |
Our American Elites – Part 1
Puritan vs. Plantation
You have seen me struggling to make sense of the differences
between conservatives and liberals, the balance between personal liberties and
public responsibilities, and persistent class differences in America. Today, I
read an article that suggested a difference between American elites that fills
in a gap in my thinking. Naturally, I’m excited and want to share.
Despite our belief that all men are created equal, we have
always understood that some of us have advantages of education, wealth,
connections, and influence that are not shared equally. And, as a competitive
capitalistic society, we mostly accept these class differences in the hope that
someday we, or our children, might become rich and powerful too. We expect to
always have our elites.
The thing that got my attention was the idea that, in
America, there are two major background philosophies among our elites. Some
derive their life-views from Puritan thought while some get their thinking from
Plantation attitudes. This makes a difference in how a person of privilege
thinks about
what they do with their wealth, what responsibilities they feel for others, and how they define liberty and freedom.
what they do with their wealth, what responsibilities they feel for others, and how they define liberty and freedom.
The Puritan Ethic emphasizes community and the conviction
that those having wealth and power also have the responsibility to use some of
it to improve their societies. Historically, they typically responded to an
inner call to community service and doing good for less-fortunate others. They
have endowed universities and public libraries. They have endorsed government
policies that improve the lot of the common man. The Roosevelts and Kennedys
have fit this mold. People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are determined to
use their fortunes for good.
Holders of the Plantation Ethic are very much different.
Sara Robinson’s article describes its origins in the West Indian slave states
and its “…utter lack of civic interest, its hostility to the very ideas of
democracy and human rights, its love of hierarchy, its fear of technology and
progress, its reliance on brutality and violence to maintain “order,” and its
outright celebration of inequality as an order divinely ordained by God.”
David Hackett Fischer further describes Plantation elites
that, “…always feared and opposed universal literacy, public schools and
libraries, and a free press… they… sank their money into ostentatious homes and
clothing and pursuit of pleasure – including lavish parties, games of fortune,
predatory sexual conquests, and blood sports involving ritualized animal abuse
spectacles.” They held themselves to be unaccountable and above the law.
In the Puritan Ethic, both liberty and authority reside with
the community. Individuals are expected to balance their personal desires
against the greater good and occasionally make sacrifices in behalf of others.
This kind of support maximizes each citizen’s liberty, dignity, and potential.
In the Plantation Ethic, one’s sense of liberty depends on
their God-given place in society, which gave them the freedom to “take
liberties” with the lives, rights, and property of other people. This results
in their feeling the right to dominate, exploit, and abuse others and their
property with impunity. This unaccountability defines them, in their own eyes,
as “free men.”
What sort of elites do you want writing your laws and
running your government?
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