The "Civic Mindset"

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a Saturday morning near Beaufort, SC with 150 or so other gentlemen thinking about the future of the conservative movement. I left feeling hopeful that there were changes afoot that would allow for a greater sense of stewardship in the cultural mindset.

Among the speakers at this gathering was Roy Williams (not the basketball coach at UNC or NFL player). Although he may disagree with my description, Mr. Williams is a marketing consultant to businesses large and small on trends, branding and the way customers think about buying decisions.

So what, I asked, does this have to do with conservatism? He explained that, in a pendulum fashion, societies swing from a “civic” cultural mindset to an “individualist” cultural mindset and back over the span of an 80-year cycle. He commented that in popular music and literature these cultural shifts were evident. His thought was that we have recently seen the height of the individualist movement in the 1990’s for that cycle and that we have begun to swing back to a civic mindset. The last height of the civic mindset was the 1930’s in which government was tasked with solving all the social ills of the day. In that decade, we saw the modern social programs and large government institutions come into existence. In that phase of the cycle, there was a societal push to rally around a common cause and sacrifice the individual pursuit for the good of the nation.

Mr. Williams stated that if we are indeed moving into a societal phase of civic mindset, the people are more likely to elect leaders who are “open, natural and uncontrived.” The Barack Obama phenomenon makes sense in light of this. Is there a chance that conservatives can find a similar candidate who conveys a genuine sense of conviction about the future of the nation? As Mr. Williams said, “In the civic generation, leaders are more likely to be elected if they are seen as nonpartisan thinkers rather than partisan ideologues.” As conservatives, we should find such leaders or be prepared to lose the civic movement to eloquent speakers who believe that government is the answer.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford posed a concern at the conclusion that the civic movement may mean that we see even larger government as the people look for government to solve their issues. My hope is that precisely the opposite will occur; that people will make civic sacrifices for the good of the nation. Programs that were originally part of the civic mindset have now become servants to the individualistic mindset’s chant, “Forget everyone else, I want mine.” Since bigger government hasn’t delivered long-term solutions, conservatives should lead from the perspective that the civic movement will mean reductions in government by a people who are willing to sacrifice the government program that benefits themselves in order to preserve the blessings of Liberty for posterity.