Americans Lose Gift for Practical Living

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was more direct and blunt in his Republican response to the State of the Union address: "Americans can do anything."

But it was also an underlying theme in President Obama's address itself: Yeah, times are tough. But we will overcome them. We're Americans.

Americans do have a sense that they are different and better than other people. To some extent, this is harmless and even beneficial. Pride of place is a universal human instinct. Pandering to it by politicians is inevitable.

But it can also become a dangerous delusion. And, with respect to the American people, it may be yesterday's news.

The United States has been historically distinctive. But that's not because our people are wired differently. After all, except for Native Americans, there really isn't an American race. We are a hodgepodge of other people.

What has made us different is that we lived in a framework that tended to maximize human potential. That was in part legal, a government dedicated to the protection of individual rights, including the right to property and to engage in commerce. And it was in part a culture that created and reinforced expectations about self-reliance and right living.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the Frenchman who visited the United States in the 1830s, provided roots to this notion that Americans were different. He thought Americans had an exceptional gift and capacity for practical living.

Writing in "Democracy in America," de Tocqueville observed that the mind of the American was fixed "upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward."

Americans were hard-working, entrepreneurial, thrifty and religious.

There was a strong ethic of self-responsibility. People were expected to provide for themselves and their family, including helping even extended family members in difficulty.

There were strong communitarian instincts as well, but these were acted upon voluntarily. De Tocqueville remarked on the voluntary associations that sprang up in the United States to improve the community and serve those in need. So, even our communitarian activities reinforced the notion of self-responsibility.

Achieving a reasonable degree of material comfort and economic security is easier today than at any time in our history. The formula is pretty straightforward: Regardless of how bad a school you attend, pay attention and do what your teachers say to do. Get at least a high school education.

Don't abuse alcohol or drugs. Don't have a child out of wedlock.

Get a job and perform your duties diligently. Live below your means and put the power of compounding interest to work for your future.

This formula, however, is not drummed into our young, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who need to understand it the most. The culture doesn't reinforce it.

And the number of Americans who breach some element of the formula is staggering.

The observation that Americans have been living above their means has become commonplace. And it's true for both our people and our corporations.

American consumers are retrenching, and this goes beyond just unemployment and stagnant incomes. Despite those things, the savings rate has increased markedly.

And yet the federal government is enacting new subsidies for buying homes and cars and for consumer debt generally.

The message from Washington seems to be: Live within your means. Just not yet.

Americans are not immune. If we make the same mistakes as other people, we will suffer the same consequences.

And I don't think a modern-day de Tocqueville, visiting our country with fresh eyes and an inquiring mind, would walk away with the conclusion that we have an exceptional gift and capacity for practical living.