America’s Struggle Within
Nothing Will Be Easy or Quick
As people in the conversations looked out across America, they said they did not like what they saw. They deeply lamented where the nation stands-not just in terms of America’s economy or families or values, but even more fundamentally about the nation’s understanding of itself.
“We’ve lost our sense of humanity,” is how a San Francisco man put it. People believed that the nation has gotten seriously off track. What is more, their belief struck directly at the nature of America. A Laconia man summed up the feelings of many people in these discussion groups when he said, “We’ve lost our soul.” People around the room in Laconia nodded in agreement.
Many Americans are now questioning their ability to dream. Recall the Mason City man who said, “I’m starting to wonder if the American Dream still exists.” He was not alone.
Americans want to recapture, or reinvigorate, the American soul. As one Laconia man observed, “We don’t live on farms anymore. We live in a community where there’s stress…Conditions have changed. How do we regain the pride and the love and the respect and the caring we once had?”
Don’t Expect Miracles
People do not believe that a brighter future will come easily or quickly-or that it should. Rather, people’s sense of what the future holds drew on their previous experience with difficult problems. A Laconia man said about past attempts to address people’s concerns, “Easy answers were not achieved, because there are none.”
A Tampa man noted that the nation was experiencing tremendous shifts that people would need to sort through. “Society is moving fast…It’s just coming right at you, and people are more reactive to it.” He said about Americans, “They are trying to cope and deal with the absorption of it, and rationalize it, and say… ‘What’s the right and the wrong thing? ‘”
Group participants were clear in their belief that the country must apply itself differently in order to tackle its challenges. The county has “gotten out of shape,” a Laconia woman observed. “What we’ve got to do is all keep working and get it back.” But people believed that merely setting out to “create change” was the wrong approach. Recall the Modesto man who said, “It’s the dynamics of change, and they’re not responding correctly to it.” He continued, “They’re trying the old system of trying to fix things, instead of trying to find some new ways.”
Nor did people think that money was the answer. A Davenport man said, “Just throwing money away doesn’t solve the problem.” And an Orlando man echoed the views of many people in the discussions when he said, “Money’s not the solution.” Rather, he said, “It’s changing the way they do things [that] is the solution.” And a Tampa man made this observation: “We can sit here and vent all day long…[but] if you don’t take an interest in what’s going on and try to do something about it, you can throw all the money in the world at it and you’re not gonna see any results.”
As the country struggles, people said, meaningful action will come slowly. “It’s not an overnight thing,” a Tampa woman said. And a Tampa man added, “It takes a long time with a big ship.” A Miami woman captured people’s sentiments when she recalled the saying, “It takes a long time to grow a tree from a seed.”
The discussions suggested moveover, that progress would not come without some pain. “We’re all going to have to make sacrifices,” a Mason City man said. And a Claremont woman suggested that Americans should take the long view. She referred to what people would say when getting a measles shot: “I don’t like this shot, but I know it’s going to keep me from getting the measles.”
Throughout the group discussions, people cautioned that despite the desire for progress, it would be difficult to put things into motion. When asked point blank if people would take steps to get more involved, a mixed response was heard. A Tallahassee man said, “We’re lazy. We’re not willing to do it.” Indeed, people said that Americans would need time in order to step forward-that they no longer believe that they could really make a difference. Said a Mason City woman, “A lot of people say… ‘I ‘m just one person. What difference am I going to make? ‘”
An Orlando man captured the essence of many of the group discussions by saying that even when progress does occur, “We’re not going to have a utopia-but an efficient government, maybe the majority of people caring for each other, and people… actually doing things instead of relying on the government.”
Commentary
People are deeply frustrated and exasperated by the state of the union. They believe that the nation is heading seriously off course and has been for some time. These feelings are not a momentary or passing fad but emerge from day-to-day experiences. They are based on Americans’ growing fear that their aspirations will be dashed and that their worst nightmares will become reality.
The frustration is only made worse by a profound disappointment that there has not been more progress in addressing the challenges facing the nation. People question whether political leaders, news media, business leaders and citizens themselves have the will to act at all, let alone to put our nation back on course.
A deep sense of betrayal marks many attitudes. It is clear, unmistakable and powerful. They see a nation splitting in two-with the wealthy getting wealthier, the middle class getting poorer. They believe that they have little control over the future. They harbor feelings that a basic standard of fairness is being violated. To many, the country they love is being ripped away from them.
A Deep Ambivalence
In 1991, The Harwood Group released a report for the Kettering Foundation-Citizens and Politics: A View from Main Street America-which, along with other studies, discovered the public lashing out at the political system. In the ensuing elections, leaders sought to gain political momentum by tapping into the public’s wave of anger.
The 1992 and 1994 elections were framed around the idea that Americans wanted “change,” and 1996 is shaping up to be no different. Unfortunately, such calls-then and now-are based on a dangerously superficial reading of the public.
People are struggling with the effects of an economy that they feel endangers their sense of economic security and opportunity; they fear the consequences of disintegrating families and values in the nation. They are wrestling with the meaning of these shifts-for instance: How should we define the American Dream? What is the role of government in addressing the nation’s challenges? What is the compact between employers and workers? What is the proper place of personal responsibility in a consumer-driven society?
While people are clear on their common concerns, they are deeply ambivalent about what should be done. Leaders who ignore this ambivalence in the name of pursuing “wholesale change” will merely add to Americans’ sense of exasperation-there can be no mandate for wholesale change at a time when Americans are so torn. But leaders should be careful not to mistake this ambivalence for indifference. People care deeply about what is happening around them, and they are affected in profound ways.
Discovering New Social Compacts
As the 1996 election heats up, we find candidates, pundits, pollsters and others bombarding the public with litanies of policy proposals that seek to respond to a shifting America. Each day, new issue papers are churned out, speeches and messages get molded.
But when added up, all the hoopla seems to miss the point. It seems shallow. It doesn’t ring true. Americans are not searching for a candidate who can spew out a series of one-line policy prescriptions, or news media coverage that can detail such pronouncements and handicap the race.
Instead, people are troubled by the large challenges of our time. If America is to correct its course, they wonder, what will become of the nation’s economy and the rules of society? How can we reverse the trend of disintegrating families and values? These challenges cause Americans to struggle with fundamental issues of fairness, opportunity, security, responsibility and control. They cause people to lie awake at night.
In the struggle within America, people believe that there is no easy way to deal with these challenges. Quick fixes and “magic bullets” are viewed with contempt. Fragmented policy proposals are seen as tiny Band-Aids for broad, deeply- ingrained problems. Feel-good ads are interpreted as political moves to duck the tough challenges. Grandiose promises are viewed as ill-conceived substitutes for meaningful progress.
People are ready for the hard work of determining the nation’s future. They want to find a coherent direction for moving ahead. They believe it is time to begin sorting out the responsibility of individuals, civic groups, business, government and other institutions. They are searching for social compacts to guide their lives and the nation.
The Dead End
One of the realities that frightens Americans today is their concern about whether the nation can address its challenges given current conditions of American public life.
They say politicians are obsessed with scoring political points, raising money and winning elections. News media are enamored of conflict and sensationalism. Far too many citizens are spectators in public life, standing on the sidelines, pointing fingers of blame and failing to assume responsibility.
America is stuck. How can a nation move forward when its public life is mired in acrimony and diviseness, selfishness and personal greed?
Too many people have abandoned their sense of responsibility. Politicians seem more tied to monied interests than the common interest. Journalists seem to have lost sight of their mission to inform. Individuals seem to act more as complainers and claimants, than as folks who can contribute to making things better.
Redefining Leadership
People yearn for a new kind of leadership to move the nation forward-but one that is appropriate for these times. They do not seek leaders who purport to be a shining knight on a white horse-claiming that they will single-handedly take care of America’s problems, promising to spare people sacrifice and pain, predicting that our challenges will be met overnight.
Instead, people argue that America needs leaders who hold a renewed sense of public responsibility. Leaders who understand that in their role they exercise a larger public mission. Leaders who believe that they serve the public and are holders of a sacred public trust.
No doubt this view of leadership applies to politicians. But people say that all segments in society must exercise leadership-from the news media to business executives and citizens. Only then can America create the conditions to move itself forward.
This new kind of leadership will not be easy. It will require public officials, news media, citizens and others to resist reflexes that have become ingrained in our public life. Those who commit themselves to this leadership will:
- Recognize that there must be more at work in our public lives than just our individual interests. We must work to create a public or common interest.
- Realize that too much conflict and sensationalism squeezes out the room people need to be ambivalent. There must be more opportunity for people to think, talk and come to informed judgments.
- Know that a superficial gauging of public attitudes cannot reflect the true nature and depth of people’s concerns. Instead we must take the time to listen, probe, examine and make sense of what people say.
- Conduct our daily work within a context that reaches beyond our own thoughts of personal gain and glory. There must be a higher public calling.
- Consider the repercussions of what we do in our public role. Withholding the harsh truth is not desirable, but neither is trumpeting half-truths that serve to undermine trust and our belief in one another.
- Understand that it is not possible for a neighborhood, a community or the nation to work effectively when people stand separated from the public realm.
Some observers will say that this notion of leadership sounds idealistic or naive. But for the Americans who participated in this study, it is based on a simple but harsh reality of our times: people are deeply concerned about their own future and that of the nation. They seek leadership based on a renewed sense of public responsibility.
A Path to Progress
When standing back from this study and thinking about other Harwood Group projects, a path for moving ahead begins to emerge. The path has these characteristics.
- Sense of Possibility. People know that something is amiss in America. But they do not want to wallow in despair. Instead they want a clear description of what’s wrong and a sense of what progress can be made.
- Fairness. When it comes to public life, fairness is a defining value of the time. Much of American life seems unfair to people-from how corporate decisions are made to growing gaps in incomes and who bears the brunt of taxes. The value of fairness will stand as the nation’s test as it seeks to move ahead.
- Responsibility. Throughout the citizen conversations, people repeatedly sounded the theme of responsibility. People believe that all Americans must assume more responsibility for their daily lives and the nation. Americans will look to see if efforts to move the nation ahead call on the people to exercise greater responsibility.
- Balance. People want to restore a sense of balance to American life. Their desire applies to news media coverage, political rhetoric, work, family life and entertainment. It is not that they seek entirely to repudiate all the excesses in American life, but they want to regain their footing.
- Restrained Government. People still believe in a role for government in society, but they want government to act only when necessary. The first question people want government to ask is: “Who else can address this problem?” and not, “What government program should we create?”
- Local Initiative. People want more action initiated and carried out closer to home. As America struggles with its future, it only makes sense to Americans that those closest to the challenges should be more involved in working out ways to meet them.
- New Social Compacts. People see America’s social compacts as up for grabs-from how employers and workers interact to government’s role in addressing the nation’s challenges and the definition of the American Dream. People seek to strike new compacts that make sense for our shifting nation.
Americans can feel the nation shifting, and they are deeply ambivalent concerning what to do about those shifts. They want to move the nation forward. But they do not seek wholesale change.
Rather, people want to pursue steady progress that recognizes the inherent difficulty and complexity of the challenges they face. They want the chance to regain confidence and trust in their leaders, in their institutions and in themselves. People seek to balance their sense of possibility with realistic expectations. They want to dream-but they do not want to chase fantasies that merely lead to more frustration.
Appendix: Methodology
This report is based on a series of fifteen focus group discussions that The Harwood Group conducted with a cross-section of Americans in September 1995.
Focus groups-or group discussions-are an ideal research method for this type of endeavor. They provide citizens with the opportunity to think about various issues and topics over the course of a discussion, to talk about their views and feelings in their own words and to describe the underlying assumptions behind their views. Moreover, this research technique helps to identify the language that citizens use to talk about specific topics; and focus groups allow citizens to react to new information and proposals during the course of a discussion. Such interaction is difficult-often impossible to obtain-through public opinion surveys.
There are, of course, limitations to group discussions. The research is qualitative. Thus, the observations detailed in this report should not be mistaken for findings from a random sample survey. They are, technically speaking, hypotheses, or insights, that would need to be validated by reliable quantitative methods before being considered definitive. Still, the insights are suggestive of how citizens view public concerns and their relationships to them.
Each of the fifteen focus groups conducted for this study comprised approximately 12 adults representing each area’s demographic profile in terms of race, age, income, gender, education, and employment status.
The breakdown of focus group participants was approximately: 74% white/Anglo; 12% African-American; 11% Hispanic or Latino; 3% Asian; 32% aged 18-34; 50% aged 35-64; 18% aged 65 and over; 49% male; 51% female; 10% did not receive a high school diploma; 60% received a high school diploma or attained some college; 30% received a bachelor’s degree or higher; 34% with annual household income under $30,000; 43% earning $30-60,000; 23% earning over $60,000; and 91% reported having voted in the previous presidential election.
The Citizens Election Project, an undertaking of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism in conjunction with the University of Maryland School of Journalism, is assisting six media partnerships as they seek to apply the principles of civic journalism to their coverage of the 1996 presidential election campaign.
The CEP partnerships concentrate on four key states in the presidential nominating process-Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, and California. The partners’ campaign coverage is driven by the voters’ agenda, as distinct from the agendas of the media and the candidates, and is informed by data derived from CEP-financed focus groups and polls. In addition to their regular broadcast and print coverage, the partners are sponsoring candidate debates and town meetings that similarly focus on people’s concerns.
The project’s goal is to demonstrate new ways of covering politics that will serve as a model for further reform in the future.
The Harwood Group is a public issues research and innovations firm that works with public and private sector organizations to figure out the essence of public challenges and how to take effective action. Much of the firm’s work centers on rebuilding public relationships and creating effective social change.
The Harwood Group has undertaken projects on various public issues including education, youth, health care, economic development and change, environment, science and technology, the political process, civic life and community development.
The firm’s news media projects work with: American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Journalism Values Institute to explore journalistic values in a changing time; Knight-Ridder Newspapers on the coverage of public concerns in the 1992 election; The Colorado Springs Telegraph-Gazette, The Orange County Register, The Virginian-Pilot, The Miami Herald and The Tallahassee Democrat to develop principles and practices for understanding and engaging the public realm; The Wichita Eagle to uncover and tap into the civic life of the community.
Other clients include: Georgia Health Decisions; Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education; CIVITAS/Center for Civic Education; The Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The Kettering Foundation; US WEST Foundation; and The National Commission for the Renewal of American Democracy (Project Democracy).
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