(9 of 11)
Minorities must and will recognize such trends as self-destructive. By and large, the melting pot still works. In the 21st century America will have a new ethnic profile. The prospect of a Hispanic or Asian -- and surely a black -- President is quite plausible. And it is a cheering prospect, provided only that he or she speaks to the nation in English and governs in the tradition of the founders. That tradition has evolved but remains the binding force and genius of America -- an ability to combine self-interest with compromise.
3) America possesses a special instrument of change and reform -- what might be called the civic crusade. These grass-roots movements about particular issues have repeatedly forced the more rigid political system to follow: in the fight against racial discrimination, the movement for women's equality, the drive for fair treatment of homosexuals, the environmental movement, the campaign against smoking and many others. Not everybody is comfortable with all these crusades and the rights they champion. But they represent an extraordinary American capacity to change perceptions and habits.
If it is possible through organized popular pressure to make the environment and nature a major political issue, it should be possible to do the same for education. If it is possible to make smoking despised, it should be possible for drug use. And it should be possible to refocus some civic crusades. The antitax movement was an important political force, but it was too blunt and undifferentiated. To reduce the excesses of government bureaucracy, it is not enough to curb its spending powers. It is far more important (and more difficult) to monitor performance and press for efficiency.
Yes, of course, leadership is needed. But there are times when followers must lead until the leaders follow.
The civic crusades also carry danger. There are so many on behalf of so many causes, including relatively trivial ones, that their energy can become scattered. They threaten to be no longer civic but merely uncivil, dismissive of the rights of others.
But that is not wholly new. The notion that in the past the U.S. was somehow a united community is a nostalgic illusion. The founders warned of the dangers of "faction." Even on the frontier, the pioneers fought not just the Indians but one another. Interests fought other interests. Regions fought other regions. Industrialization brought bloodletting between bosses and labor. But despite battles that in other countries would have wrecked social and political systems, the U.S. usually managed to find some accommodation that satisfied nobody but, in the end, proved workable.
In an interdependent world with conflicting national and ethnic claims, with people on the move as never before, America's social flexibility and its experience with blending many ethnic groups is an important advantage. It is a quality notably lacking in some of the other possible claimants to leadership in the next century.
A united Europe, driven by a united Germany, could become the world's leading power. Heir to a unique civilization and used to rule, the European Community has a highly educated, skilled population and a GNP larger than America's.