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Crisis in the Agora and the Future of the US:Economy, Foreign Affairs, Domestic Policy, and Civitas
We in the United States are facing an existential crisis across many fronts that was created by neglect, willfulignorance and partisan self-interest over the last three decades. Yet we can address and solve these challengeswith pragmatic, workable and affordable policies and good citizenship if we so choose. Demagoguery, of eitherthe Right or the Left, will not help however. What is required is “Civitas” – or acting not just in your own interestsbut as a responsible contributor to the well-being of society as a whole. Which is also, in the long-run our ownself-interest.In the cities of the ancient world each city had a centralsquare where citizens came to meet, shop and trade. Itwas also where they held their public meetings anddiscussions and was the beating heart of their city-states.We are long past the time when the major issues of theday could be settled in a single public square but thereare critical lessons that can be learned from those times.Starting by asking what did they need to function?First off peace and security – the existence of the city andthe square had to be defended. Next, since the Agorawas the economic engine of the city-state wherecraftsman met farmer met householder to exchange theproduct of one for the other, civil peace, justice andhonest markets were required. That meant rules togovern the citizenries conduct among themselves andbetween them and visitors, police to enforce the rules andcourts to adjudicate disputes. Third, the city, the squareand the population had to live healthy and educated lives.Which meant things as simple and prosaic as sewers, garbage disposal and street sweepers. It also meantapprenticeships, training and education, road and bridge building, harbor construction and maintenance and awhole host of other public projects.Finally it required, most fundamentally, respect for each other, the rules and regulations, and belief in thelegitimacy of the government who provided the institutions and decision-making that oversaw the health of theAgora. The Romans called the area surrounding a town subject to the rule of Roman Law the Civitas but the wordcame to mean more than that. It meant respect for, adherence to and support of those Laws as well as a duty toact in the public interest. In other words a healthy Agora is ultimately governed by Civitas.Now none of these ancient states were perfect by any means and there were lots of warts on these ideals.Socrates was put to death by his fellow citizens for daring to ask questions that challenged their shibboleths. Ashibboleth being some sign or action by which members of a group could recognize one another but reallymeaning the idols they worshiped as measures of their specialness and entitlements to privilege. Rather than fleeas his accusers and friends expected him to do Socrates chose suicide, out of respect for his fellow citizens andCivitas. Later Athenian arrogance and exploitation of the members of its naval empire led to the PeloponnesianWars, which led to the loss of Greek independence and eventual conquest by the Persians, the Macedonians andthe Romans. Ironic isn’t it that the peoples who died at Thermopylae and defeated the mightiest empire in theworld in defense of their freedom eventually lost it to their own hubris…or lack of Civitas.This collection of blog posts and some related readings looks at the current situation of the US and examineseach of the major areas of the Agora (Economy, Foreign Affairs, Domestic Affairs) and Public Values to assess
 
where we’re at, how current policies work and what they are likely to lead to and the challenges and barriers eachface. In each section we try and lay out a framework and explain that particular topic by testing it against theframework as well as provide the URL address for the blog posting that provides extensive backup readingexcerpts and suggestions. One consequence is that the arguments and conclusions we offer up are drawn fromthe best, most reasoned and reasonable and pragmatic sources and synthesized here. Nonetheless you may notfind yourselves agreeing with much, if any of our arguments or conclusions.Which is perfectly fine, though admittedly disappointing.What we hope you take away, if nothing else, is ablueprint of the issues that are important and tools andframeworks for debating and understanding them.All too often the human animal is a rationalizing animalwho has already decided the answers and looks for thedata to distort to support pre-existing conclusions. Whatwe have tried to do is lay out the means and informationfor starting with the world as it is and ways to get to wherewe want to go that work.Agree or not you will end up deciding, deliberately or bydefault, what kind of world we’ll all live in. We hope youchoose to make a constructive contribution, one withCivitas.The great paradox of the Agora is that we are all better off when we are each better off, and we are each betteroff when we are all better off. That has been the underpinning of the development of the US throughout history,and in fact of all great societies. The problem is in figuring how to accomplish our goals.
Table of Contents
Existential Crisis in the Agora I: Economy, Policy and US Strategic Outlook 3Existential Crisis Around the Agora II: New World Stories 5Existential Crisis OF the Agora III: Fixing Things Around Home 8Existential Crisis IV: the Agora, Civitas, Values and Futures 11Peace in the Public Square: the 100 Days and Re-emergence of Civitas 21
 
 
Existential Crisis in the Agora I: Economy, Policy and US StrategicOutlook
http://llinlithgow.com/PtW/2009/05/existential_crisis_in_the_agor.html If the news over the last few months hasn't made it crystal clear to you lastFriday's bankruptcy filing by Chrysler, with GM likely to soon follow, shouldmake it clear that we are in the eye of the biggest economic storms in oversixty years. We're facing fundamental changes in the structure, nature anddirection of the US economy, which will define the limits of policy andprosperity for decades to come. The good news is that the Administrationis doing extremely well in putting the right policies in place quickly andimplementing them about as well as could be expected. The bad news istwo-fold.First we've got a long way to go before this is over and we reach a growingeconomy again. The worse news is that longer-term growth prospects areextremely poor and will be potentially lower than at any time in the post-war period. Now that's big picture stuff but presumably you've all heardabout growing income inequality, businesses and industries disappearing forever and all the rest of the symptomsof underlying structural flaws that have been accumulating since 1980. If we'd like to return to a modicum ofgrowth we need to get the economy and society on a new footing. The good news is that not only does theadministration realize this but it's already putting in place the necessary programs and investments that stand areasonable chance of making it happen. We've heard no better summary of this existential crisis than this Roseinterview with Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times. Memorize it and use it as a checklist!We just put up a major survey of the structure of the US economy which is complementary background readingfor how the economy works. In fact we'd almost say mandatory: It can be found here:Real Data Interlude I: Econ-ecostructure (GDP to Trade) 
Economic Alternatives: Stagnation vs Re-structure
We've been covering the economic news for quite awhile here, going back to early '08 at least so we won'tdive into the details of the cycle, policies and politics aswell as budgets. You can check back to skim over allthat in the archive and/or we've listed some of the priorpostings in the readings excerpts (NB: you'll also find avery extensive collection on the current situation, thelong-term prospects for low growth, specific policyareas (Taxes, Regulation, Housing & Autos) andfundamental shifts in strategic policy which representthe biggest shift since 1980.Judging by the most recent poll results (discussed inthe last post:Peace in the Public Square: the 100 Daysand Re-emergence of Civitas (Updates)) the publictrusts the President and the Administration but still hasn't grasped the implications and is particularly angry aboutthe on-going rescue of the Finance Industry. While the Administration has clearly laid out it's policies and how thepieces all work together the explanations are also still lacking something. We're going to take a shot at framingthe discussion using three variations on a conceptual chart to try and read you into the context. No guaranteesbut let's see what we can do.
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Eduard Catalin

Great paper! I've read only a couple of pages, but intend to read it in full. Have a lot to learn from this. Thanks for sharing!

reply11 / 21 / 2009
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