Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Why Is America Great?, Part VII, Self-Interest "Properly Understood"

"Alexis de Tocqueville once described what he saw as a chief part of the peculiar genius of American society—something he called 'self-interest properly understood.' The last two words were the key. Everyone possesses self-interest in a narrow sense: I want what’s good for me right now! Self-interest 'properly understood' is different. It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone else’s self-interest—in other words, the common welfare—is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being. Tocqueville was not suggesting that there was anything noble or idealistic about this outlook—in fact, he was suggesting the opposite. It was a mark of American pragmatism. Those canny Americans understood a basic fact: looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul—it’s good for business.

The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late."

Read Vanity Fair, Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%.