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Well before Karl Marx was
born (1818), yet longer before he published his Communist Manifesto (1848), the
founders of the United States established, alongside other national attributes
such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, and “all men are created equally” the commitment to the idea of shared resources and responsibilities.
In conclusion of the
Declaration of Independence, having articulated the justification for the
separation from England, these founders also declared “ And for the support of
this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
We pledge to each other: This
is not a declaration of “each to his own” individualism. At the very nascence
of our national identity was established the idea of the common good.
Our lives: Long
before the Revolutionary War was spun from the fabric of American idealism,
William Shakespeare wrote in a narrative poem
“That one for all, or all
for one we gage;
As life for honour in fell battle’s rage;”
I am convinced that these
well-read men of noble cause had read these lines from the bard and found them
to be worthy of personal and national subscription.
Our fortunes: And
here we have a commitment to share in the area of financial resources. Though
not an endorsement of socialism, which was not yet articulated by either Marx
or Engels, it was definitely a stated allegiance to be of financial assistance one
to each.
Our sacred honor: The
use of the word “sacred” indicates that they considered their honor to be yet
more cherished than even their fortunes or their lives. They were corporately binding
together even their honor, their legacy, their place in posterity.
This was not a
declaration of individualism.
It was one of corporate,
shared, common good.
The ideals of shared
resources and responsibilities are echoed in the Preamble to the Constitution,
in which we read phrases like “We, the people”, “ a more perfect Union”, “provide
for the common defence", “promote the general Welfare”, “ourselves and our
Posterity”.
This same Constitution,
ratified June 21, 1788, enabled an early act of “redistribution of debt” with
the Funding Act of 1790. To abbreviate a complex act of Congress, August 4,
1790, as the picture indicates, the federal government assumed the war debts of the various states, some
of which had already paid their debts and so would be helping to pay the debts
of other states. The first national redistribution of debt took place well
before formal socialist ideology happened upon our national intellect.
My point is, the idea of nationally
shared resources and responsibilities is as American as Thomas Jefferson, James
Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
