The United States: A Persistent Debate
he United States has been described in many ways: a land of opportunity, liberal, democratic, republican, capitalistic, multicultural, pluralistic, imperialistic, and materialistic. However, history students must understand that, foremost, the United States is an idea that is sustained through debate. The health and existence of American democracy depend on the quality of that debate. This is what Abraham Lincoln meant in the Gettysburg Address by “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Perhaps students would show more interest in history and understand its central role in education if teachers started from the proposition that representative democracy must be developed and sustained through debate. Students must also understand that this debate is not sustained for the purpose of establishing absolute rights and wrongs; it is a debate about the relationship of important American values. To participate productively in this debate, students must develop and cultivate a distinctive American mindset. The American democratic mind must be capable of debating two conflicting values while noting the essential merit of both. Four sets of value tensions central to the American debate allow students to understand historic events, analyze current issues, and address the problems of democracy. The mark of an enlightened citizen is the ability to intelligently use these four sets of values—(1) law versus ethics, (2) private wealth versus common wealth, (3) freedom versus equality, and (4) unity versus diversity—in addressing matters of public interest. These pairs of values are inherently antagonistic, yet together they hold the promise for a progressive and better society. In a healthy democracy, citizens and their representatives attempt to bring these value pairs into balance as they address problems. The result is a continuing debate to establish and maintain balance among the value tensions. Without that debate, democracy is threatened and may even cease to exist. No single value is adequate. Taken to their logical ends, freedom leads to anarchy, equality to collectivism, diversity to tribalism, unity to totalitarianism, common wealth to communism, private wealth to plutocracy, law to fascism, and ethics to nihilism. Together, these value tensions represent the ethos and aims of the United States.