What might be a constructive vision for the US? By Ervin Staub
In difficult times like today, people need a vision or ideology
that gives them hope for the future. Unfortunately, groups often
adopt destructive visions, which identify other groups as
enemies who supposedly stand in the way of creating a better
future. A constructive, shared vision, which joins groups,
reduces the chance of hostility and violence in a society. A
serious failure of the Obama administration has been not to
offer, and help people embrace, such a vision. Policies by
themselves, such as health care and limited regulation of the
financial system, even if beneficial, don’t necessarily do this.
A constructive vision or ideology must combine an inspiring
vision of social arrangements, of the relations between
individuals and groups and the nature of society, and actions
that aim to fulfill the vision. A community that includes all
groups, recreating a moral America, and rebuilding connections
to the rest of the world could be elements o