Habits of the Left-Wing Heart

The John Birch Coloring Book, the story is, shows the American eagle without a left wing. The reverse is true of the most curious “important” book of the current publishing season, Habits of the Heart, a book six years (and many grants) in the making, by sociologist Robert N. Bellah and four associates. Seeking incongruously to strengthen the American Left, Bellah et al. virtually ignore the entire conservative movement in America. Their American eagle has no right wing; it won’t fly.

The backbone of this book is a meditation on Tocqueville’s fear that American “individualism” would undermine democracy and lead to a new soft tyranny, an administrative despotism, in which the state would make dependent wards of its citizens. Bellah et al. think this is dangerously close to the current situation. They call (in their own words) for a strengthening of what the American Enterprise Institute calls the “mediating structures” of life—those vital communities in between the state and the individual, such as the family, the union, the workplace, voluntary associations. They also call for a new American patriotism and a sense of national purpose.

About the Author

Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Alexis de Tocqueville

The John Birch Coloring Book, the story is, shows the American eagle without a left wing. The reverse is true of the most curious “important” book of the current publishing season, Habits of the Heart, a book six years (and many grants) in the making, by sociologist Robert N. Bellah and four associates. Seeking incongruously to strengthen the American Left, Bellah et al. virtually ignore the entire conservative movement in America. Their American eagle has no right wing; it won’t fly.

The backbone of this book is a meditation on Tocqueville’s fear that American “individualism” would undermine democracy and lead to a new soft tyranny, an administrative despotism, in which the state would make dependent wards of its citizens. Bellah et al. think this is dangerously close to the current situation. They call (in their own words) for a strengthening of what the American Enterprise Institute calls the “mediating structures” of life—those vital communities in between the state and the individual, such as the family, the union, the workplace, voluntary associations. They also call for a new American patriotism and a sense of national purpose.