I’ve always been impressed that the preamble to the Constitution begins, “We the People of the United States.” We’ve heard the phrase so often that we don’t even stop to think about it.
By their phrasing, the founders made clear that government should strive for the common good, which they went on to lay out: “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.”
So what do we actually mean when we talk about the “common good”? The Constitution’s preamble is vague. The Founders left those ideas open for debate.
We can see this at play almost anywhere we look today. It is in our common interest, for example, that as many people as possible be vaccinated against the coronavirus — that’s the best way to protect everyone. But there are plenty of people who don’t want to get vaccinated. Whether and how to respond is a topic of hot debate among businesses and state governments.
Similarly, it is in the common interest that Americans be able to live up to their economic potential. But when you get down to brass tacks, as in the Biden administration’s huge infrastructure package, pretty much every interest group pushes its own interests.
So who looks at what actually is in the best overall interest of our nation and its long-term economic future?
The key point is that there isn’t a single definition of “the common good.” Instead, we live in a country that allows us to debate the question; change our answer as public sentiment evolves; and find common ground to move forward. In other words, in our system maybe the greatest common good is the opportunity to define the common good.
Why does any of this matter right now? I’d argue that our ability to discern what’s in our common interest depends on believing that we, as Americans, all have something in common. In countries divided by internal conflict — places like Syria come to mind — ethnic, religious, or ideological identities often override the sense of a shared political community. We’ve seen worrying signs of something similar taking shape in the U.S.
Our future depends on refocusing on what unites us, not what divides us.
Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies; and a professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years. Send comments to [email protected].
