The Present Age: Progress and Anarchy in Modern America

160 Pages·2003·0.54 MB·English

by  ROBERT NISBET

The
Present
Age
RobertNisbet
The
Present Age
Progress and
Anarchy in
Modern America
Robert Nisbet
amagi
Liberty Fund
Indianapolis
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          
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Nisbet,RobertA.
Thepresentage:progressandanarchyinmodernAmerica/
RobertNisbet.
p. cm.
Originallypublished:NewYork:Harper&Row,.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
---(pbk.:alk.paper)
. UnitedStates—Defenses—Economicaspects—History—
thcentury. . Bureaucracy—UnitedStates—History—th
century. . Federalgovernment—UnitedStates—History—
thcentury. . State,The. . Worldpolitics—–.
. UnitedStates—Foreignrelations—thcentury. . United
States—Socialconditions. I. Title.
.  
'.—dc 
,.,
AllisonPointeTrail,Suite Indianapolis,Indiana-
Contents
Foreword vii
. ThePrevalenceof War 
. TheNewAbsolutism 
. TheLooseIndividual 
Epilogue 
Index 
 ,  
Foreword
ItistemptinginthisyearofthebicentennialoftheConstitutiontospeculate
ontheprobablereactionsoftheFramerstotheproductoftheirlaborsand
aspirationsasitstandstodayintheworldtwofullcenturiesafteritsincep-
tion.Suchspeculationneednotbealtogetherfanciful.Someconstitutional
lawyers speak of recovering the ‘‘original intent’’ of the Framers, a not im-
possible feat given the clarity of the document itself and the abundance of
ancillarysourcesoftheFramers’viewsongovernment.Iforiginalintentcan
bereasonablyretrievedaftertwohundredyears,whynotprobablereaction
tothepresentageinAmerica?
What would the Framers be most struck by in America today? I mean
aftertheyhadrecoveredfromtheshockofseeingclean,strong,whiteteeth
insteadofdecayedyellowstumpsinthemouthsoftheirdescendants;after
they had assimilated the fact of the astounding number of Americans who
wereneithercrippled,disease-wasted,norpockmarkedfromsmallpox;and,
of course, after they had taken rapt eyes off the high-speed vehicles on the
streets?Aftertheseastonishments,whatreactionsmighttherebetothepo-
liticalandculturalscene?
ThreeaspectsofthepresentageinAmericawouldsurelydrawtheirim-
mediate,concerned,andperhapsincredulousattention.
First, the prominence of war in American life since , amounting to
a virtual Seventy-Five Years War, and with this the staggering size of the
AmericanmilitaryestablishmentsinceWorldWarII.TheFramershadre-
liedontwobroadoceansforthelicensetodraftthemostnonmilitarycon-
stitutionimaginable.
Second,theLeviathan-likepresenceofthenationalgovernmentintheaf-
fairsofstates,towns,andcities,andinthelives,cradletograve,ofindividu-
als.TheFramershadworkedmostdiligentlytopreventanyfuturehypertro-
phyofthefederalgovernment.Theyhadparticularlydislikedthesprawling
bureaucraciesof Europeintheirday.
Third, the number of Americans who seem only loosely attached to
[viii] Foreword
groupsandvaluessuchaskinship,community,andproperty,andwhoselives
aresoplainlygovernedbythecashnexus.
In the pages following, I have enlarged upon these three aspects of the
presentsceneinAmerica.
Since this book contains in adapted form my  Jefferson Lecture in
Washington,D.C.,IwishtoexpressmydeepappreciationtotheNational
CouncilofHumanitiesforinvitingmetodeliverthelectureandmythanks
toDr.LynneV.Cheney,ChairmanoftheNationalEndowmentoftheHu-
manities, for her kind interest and aid in the presentation of the lecture. I
thankalsoHughVanDusen,SeniorEditoratHarper&Row,forhisspecial
helpandencouragement.
The
Present
Age