Читать книгу American Political Thought - Ken Kersch - Страница 16

Among political theorists especially, liberalism and republicanism are typically understood, and taught, as political philosophies. They start from core premises and build outward to construct logically coherent and cohesive theories of government, which can then be critiqued, criticized, revised, refined, or rejected. While the political thought of Americans has certainly been informed by underlying political philosophies, however, it has also been informed by narratives and stories, which have their own dynamics different from those involved in arguing a point of political philosophy.

In later work, Rogers Smith wrote about American political thought as (also) being informed, if not foundationally structured, by a set of “people-making,” “ethically constitutive stories.” These stories look to and interpret the nation’s past, offering shared readings of the country’s mores in light of stories about where their tellers imagine the country has been and is going. These might be stories of spiritual aspiration, or prodigal wandering, of anointment or chosenness, or foresakenness, of belonging, privilege, or exclusion, of restoration or redemption, of treachery or betrayal, of decline or triumph. One way to think about such stories is that they are bids at meaning-making, whether by an individual, a group, or the political community as a whole. To be effective, such stories (or narratives) will appeal not just to the intellect but also to the emotions, inspiring feelings of loyalty, resentment, pride, anger, hope, and even love. Such stories are a staple of everything from political speeches and campaigns to national anthems and pop songs, and of the design of flags, government buildings, and public monuments like the Lincoln or the Vietnam memorials. The relationship between the stories Americans have told themselves over the course of their history interact with political philosophies in diverse and complicated ways. Sometimes the stories are enlisted to illustrate and reinforce a particular political framework or philosophy. At other times, they evince their own distinctive, and orthogonal, dynamics.