Shared Sacrifice and Social Responsibility

There are times in history where people are faced with the choices that determine the future of their civilization. The Greeks chose leaders who espoused the ideals of democracy but acted like the dictators they so apparently despised. The Romans fell victim to greed and unfettered expansion that bankrupted their empire. The colonial Americans took arms against the greatest empire the world had ever seen for the sake of ideals and almost nothing else. These choices can can propel people to greatness or doom them to the criticism of historians.

The United States has faced these choices in the past. Astoundingly we have made the correct choices a majority of the time. We abolished slavery, embraced civil rights, and defeated the ambitions of leaders who wanted to conquer the world. And each of those decisions were rooted in the preservation of our ideals. The ideals that were expressed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution. They were eloquently advocated by our forefathers in the Federalist Papers and confirmed by de Tocqueville half a century later. Each generation's conviction to those ideals have been tested. Except our own, until now.

Electing an African American president is not the endgame in our pursuit of a more perfect union. It may be a testament to how far the Civil Rights Movement reached and how much of a premium our generation has put on merit based achievement, but we haven't had to sacrifice anything on our journey. We've been given everything we want and have been told that we can have whatever we want. Our generation defines success not in leadership, responsibility, or sacrifice, but by the amount of dollars we earn. We define our achievements in terms of the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, and the success of our investment portfolios.

Our generation is starting out with less than our parents. Social security and the welfare system that our grandparents have relied on for financial security is nearly bankrupt. We will have to rely on ourselves more than any American generation in the past. But we can't do it alone. We cannot succeed on individual greed and solitary achievement. We cannot blame the government for all our ills and then shrug our shoulders in apathy at the same time. Change doesn't come merely by casting a ballot. As President Obama said on Tuesday night:

"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."

We must redefine the American dream to fit the strugges of our generation. We cannot be content with living our day to day lives doing something we hate merely to earn a dollar and exist in the limbo of mediocrity. Our generation needs to strive for something more than the 2 car garage house and a 40 hour workweek. We need to realize that the true spirit of patriotism is working to improve the country we live in and the lives of its citizens. As JFK so eloquently put it: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

What use is a mediocre corporate salary when there is no satisfaction that accompanies it? What is life when you help nobody but yourself? The need to survive is understandable, but that need doesn't involve a high definition television or a fancy foreign sports car. It doesn't involve the rampant consumerism and reckless disregard for financial propriety that plague us. It involves the idea that we all have to sacrifice something to make the world we live in a better place. It involves taking responsibility for the shortcomings of our social structure and doing something, anything, to remedy it.

These aren't the tenants of socialism or communism but the basic principles behind the social contract we subscribe to by being citizens of the United States. They are the adhesive that binds us to the ideals of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. President Obama's message isn't that he is some sort of messiah promising to lead us out of the cave and into the light. His message is that we have to take the reins of leadership into our own hands in order to fix the problems that this country faces and that we complain about incessantly. We have to abandon the poverty of ambition that has befallen our generation and take arms to fight for something greater: the idea that we rise and fall together, as one.

That is the choice our generation and our successors face. That is what will propel us into the annals of greatness or throw us to the wolves of historic criticism. We are being tested on the same measure as our forefathers were, on our convictions to the ideals of the founding fathers. Let's hope we don't disappoint.