David Brooks Understands America

I like many of the things David Brooks has had to say in recent years. I should take time out to say so. When writing about spirituality, he's a powerhouse.

When he writes as he did on July 18 that the American vision is eschatological, I concur. Americans have always been moved by destiny, and for us the "end time" means the end of history, with all human conflicts resolved under one big sky, where the opposites of "liberty" and "justice for all" walk hand-in-hand, in divine marriage.

You know the adage: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For the American, when life gives you twisted little Winesburg apples with seeds of good and evil in them, and a nutter like Johnny Appleseed to plant them in every corner of the continent, make apple pie.

Brooks' thesis is "as American as apple pie." It's as American as Bruce Springsteen's lyrics.

But the material resources that shaped America's peculiar destiny no longer exist in abundance. Without material causation, America's destiny is like a ladder with broken rungs.

Here's my response to his column, "Donald Trump Hates America," published July 18 in his Times blog. Apology: I ought to have taken more care before posting it.

Brooks would make a great opening act for Springsteen.

But it takes more than an eschatological dream to define America. Brooks omits some of the material causes of American exceptionalism: geography, raw materials, and low population density.

Today, the frontier is in your child’s pocket. But the internet’s a pseudo-frontier. There is no real space in cyberspace. It offers wealth without spirituality, false friendship.

Today, our natural resources are exhausted or harder than ever to extract. The situation will only get worse.

Today, our population density makes Walden Pond mere nostalgia. There’s no respect for the individual. Our novelists all graduate from MFA programs.

Rather than dream empty dreams, we need to work on real challenges: climate ruin, unsustainable living, and mass migration.

I stand by what I said. Material circumstances on this continent, in this world, no longer support America's eschatological vision. Therefore, we must "cultivate our garden" or we'll not have a garden.

Look! The apple trees are dying.