Michael J. Sandel

Times of trouble prompt us to recall the ideals by which we live. But in America today, this is not an easy thing to do. At a time when democratic ideals seem ascendant abroad, there is reason to wonder whether we have lost possession of them at home. Our public life is rife with discontent. Americans do not believe they have much say in how they are governed and do not trust government to do the right thing. Despite the achievements of American life in the last half-century – victory in World War II, unprecedented affluence, greater social justice for women and minorities, the end of the Cold War – our politics is beset with anxiety and frustration.

The political parties, meanwhile, are unable to make sense of our condition. They main topics of national debateextent of rights and entitlements, the proper degree of government regulationthe proper scope of the welfare state, the extent of rights and entitlements, the proper degree of government regulation - take their shape from the arguments of an earlier day. They are not unimportant topics; but they do not reach the two concerns that lie at the heart of democracy’s discontent. One is the fear that, individually and collectively, we are losing control of the forces that govern our lives. The other is the sense that, from family to neighborhood to nation, the moral fabric of community is unraveling around us. These two fears – for the loss of self-government and erosion of community – together define the anxiety of the age. It is an anxiety that the prevailing political agenda has failed to answer or even address.