Shifting system and our morals

The shift in any nation’s fate is driven by either the success in the system or its failure. The prime examples of the shifts driven by failure of the system are Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and many African countries where coups are now taking place; but the United States can easily be termed as a nation where the shift towards triumph and accomplishment took place because of the success of the system. There are many lessons that one can draw from the American success but one big lesson that is my takeaway is that, “old systems that have lost and outgrown their utility must be destroyed and replace by new ones.” That is what America started doing over 300 years ago and that is what any struggling nation should aim at if it has to undergo a shift and bring about a meaningful change towards a successful future.

The nations that are struggling to succeed increasingly pin their hopes on the political and economic stability. The starting point of any discussion on reforms starts with the question about how to bring about political and economic stability first. I don’t say that they are not essential but what about the success and failure of the cultural mobility and the effect it has on the trajectory of success or failure that a nation takes? Americans conceived the idea of their state in the declaration of independence. They institutionalised that idea through their constitution and gave that idea the shape of reality, a successful reality, by creating a machinery that efficiently and effectively ran the state. That machinery is the American system. But first the culture; and why is it important?

The core of any culture is the relationship between the men and women in the society. If one wants to determine the societal strength of any given nation, one may have a quick look at how strong or weak is the bondage of the two genders in the society. To the question as to what is the biggest event in 21^st Century, there can be many answers starting from the Russian revolution to the two World Wars, the dropping of the atomic bomb, the enduring Cold War or the Fall of Berlin Wall, etc. But one event that changed the way we would live our lives or the trajectory that our cultures would take was the change in the status of women that came about in the 20^th Century. The US was the harbinger of bringing about this change and when the world was fighting World War II, America’s total workforce was composed of 37% women. Its aircraft industry boasted 65% of workforce composed of women. Even a big number, 3,50,000 women served in the armed forces in the World War II.

The unprecedented way in which the role of women changed in the 20^th Century and the phenomenal role they played in the rise of their nations is a great story to follow. The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan and published in 1963, is regarded by many as the start of feminism; and during the very time period many possibilities started opening up for women and what also started ending were the many distinctions that separated them from men. So culturally we must look at the role women are playing in our societies. Nations that are part of the gap and which missed the opportunity to rise and succeed must not stop questioning why their women are lagging behind. If cultural mobility is what we seek to become a modern welfare state then morality is one of the phenomena from which we need to liberate our women. Morality, strictly in terms of restrictive regulation of their lives, is the neutral sense of totality of rules, codes and principles under which their behaviour is judged and justified along with men — giving them liberty and freedom and not subjugating them to unending subordination.

Now to the machinery that built up American success. George Friedman, The New York Times bestselling author of The Next Hundred Years writes in his book, The Storm Before the Calm, that machines are built on such principles as design, architect and engineering. He explains that like machines, states are also built on some principles and for the American formulation of the state he quotes two principles — the principle of the fear of the government because the governments accumulate power and become tyrannies; and the principle of not trusting the people as people pursue their private interests and thus divert the governments from the common good. The founders of the United States considered that both government and the citizens are necessary but both should be restrained. To reach that end the founders decided to create a machinery of the government that limited the ability of both to accumulate power and thus decided to make such a machinery which would be unable to run without being dependent on many parts. And they implemented the Montesquieu theory of separation of powers and through it achieved three great results — passage of laws became difficult; President became incapable of becoming a tyrant; and Congress was limited by courts in what it could achieve. But it is not just the constitution but morality also which contributed to the American societal rise. It is not just the constitutional vision but more importantly the moral vision which describes the common sense of these developed nations.

What has gone wrong with countries like us is that we have been bogged down under the weight of the legal phrases constructed by our constitution. More than attributing the American success to their constitution, one can attribute it as well to their principles, character and their proud history. Twenty-six amendments have been made to the American constitution since it was drafted almost 336 years ago compared to twenty-seven amendments in our constitution which was drafted 51 years ago. American or even the developed world’s trajectory of success is based on creating and enshrining moral principles in their society.

We need to relook at our morals — the morals of our society. Not only do we deserve a change in our system which is not delivering but we also deserve the change in the status of women in our society.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2023.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.