Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - I. The Approach - 1. American Ideals and the American Conscience - 12. “Lip-Service”
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
22 An American Dilemma
at the end of the ’twenties, how confused he often felt when Americans-
in all walks of life were trustingly asking him to tell them what was;
“wrong with this country.” It is true that this open-mindedness, particulaidy
against the outside world, may have decreased considerably since then <sns
account of the depression, and that the present War might work in the same"
direction, though this is not certain} and it is true also that the opposite’
tendency always had its strong representation in America. But, by andi
large, America has been and will remain, in all probability, a society which
is eager to indulge in self-scrutiny and to welcome criticism.
This American eagerness to get on record one’s sins and their causes is
illustrated in the often quoted letter by Patrick Henry (1772), where he
confessed that he had slaves because he was “drawn along by the general
inconvenience of living here without them.”
1 will not, I cannot, justify it. However culpable my conduct, 1 will so far pay
my devoir to virtue as to own the excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and
lament my want of conformity to them.-®
American rationalism and moralism spoke through Patrick Henry. America
as a nation is like its courageous and eloquent son of the Revolution. It is
continuously paying its devoir to virtue 5
it is repeating its allegiance to the
full American Creed by lamenting its want of conformity to it. The
strength and security of the nation helped this puritan tradition to continue.
No weak nation anxious for its future could ever have done it. Americans
believe in their own ability and in progress. They are at bottom moral
optimists.
In a great nation there is, of course, division of labor. Some Americans
do most of the sinning, but most do some of it. Some specialize in muck-
raking, preaching, and lamentation j
but there is a little of the muckraker
and preacher in all Americans. On the other hand, superficially viewed,
Americans often appear cynical. Their social science has lately developed
along a deterministic track of amoralistic nonconcernednessj but this is
itself easily seen to be a moralistic reaction. As a matter of fact, this young
nation is the least cynical of all nations. It is not hypocritical in the usual
sense of the word, but labors persistently with its moral problems. It is
talcing its Creed very seriously indeed, and this is the reason why the ideals
are not only continuously discussed but also represent a social force—^why
they receive more than ^^lipnaervice’^ in the collective life of the nation. The
cultural unity of the nation is this common sharing in both the consciousness
of sins and the devotion to high ideals.
Americans accuse themselves, and are accused by others, of being materi-
alists. But they are equally extreme in the other direction. Sometimes an
American feels moved to put the matter right, as Josiah B.oyce did when
he explained;
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
