Only peasants care about America. Those who are wealthy find it merely convenient. But there is a slice somewhere in the connection between that make this place extraordinary. Long live the Slice.
Something I learned late in life is that rights are the gift of the strong. That is to say the only restraint that keeps the powerful from overpowering everything is their fear of God and their willingness to abide by the law. I reconcile these to the classic motivations of honor, fear and greed by suggesting that the powerful keep those true motivations hidden and attribute their restraint to piety and legality. But we still must pay attention to those particular restraints.
The law is restrained by its own reasonableness and the competence of law enforcement. The problem is that law enforcement is always made up of us peasants, some of whom might want to become truly powerful or wealthy. The same applies to the church. The effectiveness of the church in restraint depends upon its ability to provide succor, blessing, understanding, community - all things the powerful need in common with the common man. The clergy too is made up of peasants.
American exceptionalism depends uniquely on the persistence of the Slice, those capable of and desirous of maintaining a highly competent meritocracy. The rest of us are peasants. What I'm suggesting here is that American class distinctions are overwrought and that we are over sensitive to them. A great deal of meaning is attached in our society to meaningless efforts and great distinction given to trivial differences. There are the powerful, there is the Slice, and there is the peasantry. The Slice is smaller, much smaller than the middle class. I believe it to be smaller than the upper middle class. Indeed it is a small subset of the rich and near rich. They are the people who work because they know how and because they want to, but most importantly, they enable the institutions of power.
When I speak of power, I mean the power to get you killed. I mean the power of life or death. I mean the power to make or break. I don't mean influence. The Slice has influence - the Slice are the avatars of power. The Man says 'make it so' and the Slice pushes the button. Or perhaps The Man pushes the button, but the Slice built it and explained how it works. Either way, they are the instruments, not the motivating force. And in this understanding lies something very valuable - I see it as a tool for simplicity.
Explaining what I mean by peasantry should be easy. But it's not because it is the water we swim in. They are the rules for the game we call life - it's every career path you can imagine - it's every character in every TV show we've ever watched. I have come to recognize it in facing elements of the Slice and those beyond. I get to feel the dimensions of peasantry when I think about war and when I think about life and death decisions. It is a difficult and frightening revelation to know.
I have this duality in most of the areas of my life. As a black man outsider I have engineered a place for myself in society as an insider. It was relatively easy to do, but there was no roadmap and not much friendly assistance along the way. The same thing I say about work and can say about relationships and church. I am essentially an individual, an island entire of myself, yet I volunteer and discipline myself to be a piece of the continent, a part of the mainstream.
I don't mention this in detail to suggest that I am unique in this regard. In fact, I am saying that without question I am a peasant. But I am a questioning and articulating peasant very much aware of the feudal arrangement by which I have my liberty. I illustrate the ways I have come to recognize my position, a position I share with millions of Americans, the overwhelming majority of us. I think that somewhere in the story of The Count of Monte Cristo is an appropriate analogy. But it is on the question of the arrangements of liberty and the role of that thin Slice that I wish to direct my attention. This is my lesson going forward and captures the theme of my current writing.
Andrew Hacker wrote in his classic 'Money' that most Americans, no matter what their position in society, would be satisfied completely with a 20% raise. If you have ever played that videogame 'The Sims' you understand this implicitly. You buy a cheap chair to sleep in, you save money, study, work and spend most of your time in self-improvement to get a fluffier bed. But does the quality of your sleep improve? You eat a better brand of steak, but does your body digest its proteins any better? You buy a better car, but can you get to work any faster? Moreover can you drive a fast car, more than 175 MPH? All of our self-improvement goes to what end? It doesn't generally make us a different type of individual, it puts us in contact with a different class of peasantry. But where are the ends? Where are the borders, and exactly whom is on the other side?
As inveterate readers of Cobb know, several years ago I was involved with a venture in China. It didn't work out, but for me personally it represented touching the brass ring. It was a consummation of my life's preparation and gave me an opportunity to see myself rich. I allowed myself to think that I was on the verge of being all that I ever wanted to be - or more properly said, I would finally be rewarded for being who I am and then finally the world could see me unfettered. I didn't have to grow any longer. I would have F You Money and now the world would come to me instead. But even at that level, there are always bigger fish, there are always more significant arrangements, there are always kings over kings. After all, the deal collapsed in a firestorm of lawsuits, and when elephants fight, smaller animals get trampled.
The question peasants must ask is where is their Liege and what happens when they fight? How are we really connected to the individuals who are the ultimate expression of our values? Do we even know where to find them? Or do we just skip humanity altogether and say it's God? Presumptuous that.
Who designed your sandbox?
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I hope to come back to this framework again and again. It is my intent to place American society in a global and historical context and separate those things that serve peasants and those that serve free men. I believe we have the opportunity to be free men. I believe that within the American meritocracy, such as it is - even in the potential absence of American world dominating power, a path can be found that leads to freedom.
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