A long and dense essay that defends the virtue of commitment. The
conservative-leaning Supreme Court recently let stand its earlier
ruling that burning the American flag was an act of free speech,
protected under the First Amendment. Here, liberal-leaning Fletcher
(Law/Columbia University; A Crime of Self-Defense, 1988) questions
that high-court position. He also questions divorce, job-hopping,
and whether a surrogate mother should be forced to give up the baby
if she changes her mind. All of Fletcher's arguments arise in
defense of reinstating loyalty - to family, to country, to religion
- as a primary virtue in our moral lives. Both personal fulfillment
and the "greater good," Fletcher says, should make room for the
commitments demanded by marriage, patriotism, and a higher power.
But Fletcher drags loyalty - and readers - through such a maze of
positives and negatives, of on-the-one-hands vs.
on-the-other-hands, that it's hard to follow - or to care about -
his discussion. But he does offer some interesting insights - e.g.,
about how the "trade-up" goals of the marketplace mentality have
affected personal relationships - plus, not so interesting, an odd
fixation on the Pledge of Allegiance. Provocative, but so abstruse
as to turn off all but the most persevering readers. (Kirkus
Reviews)
At a time when age-old political structures are crumbling, civil
strife abounds, and economic uncertainty permeates the air, loyalty
offers us security in our relationships with associates, friends,
and family. Yet loyalty is a suspect virtue. It is not impartial.
It is not blind. It violates the principles of morality that have
dominated Western thought for the last two hundred years.
Loyalties are also thought to be irrational and contrary to the
spirit of Capitalism. In a free market society, we are encouraged
to move to the competition when we are not happy. This way of
thinking has invaded our personal relationships and undermined our
capacities for friendship and loyalty to those who do not serve our
immediate interests. As George P. Fletcher writes, it is time for
loyal bonds, born of history and experience, to prevail both over
impartial morality and the self-interested thinking of the market
trader.
In this extended essay, George P. Fletcher offers an account of
loyalty that illuminates its role in our relationships with family
and friends, our ties to country, and the commitment of the
religious to God and their community. Fletcher opposes the
traditional view of the moral self as detached from context and
history. He argues instead that loyalty, not impartial detachment,
should be the central feature of our moral and political lives.
Writing as a political "liberal," he claims that a commitment to
country is necessary to improve the lot of the poor and
disadvantaged. This commitment to country may well require greater
reliance on patriotic rituals in education and a reconsideration of
the Supreme Court's extending the First Amendment to protect flag
burning. Given the worldwide currents of parochialism and political
decentralization, the task for us, Fletcher argues, is to renew our
commitment to a single nation united in its diversity.
Bringing to bear his expertise as a law professor, Fletcher
reasons that the legal systems should defer to existing
relationships of loyalty. Familial, professional, and religious
loyalties should be respected as relationships beyond the limits of
the law. Thus surrogate mothers should not be forced to surrender
and betray their children, spouses should not be required to
testify against each other in court, parents should not be
prevented from willing their property to their children, and the
religiously committed should not be forced to act contrary to
conscience.
Yet the question remains: Aren't loyalty, and particularly
patriotism, dangerously one-sided? Indeed, they are, but no more
than are love and friendship. The challenge, Fletcher maintains, is
to overcome the distorting effects of impartial morality and to
develop a morality of loyalty properly suited to our emotional and
spiritual lives. Justice has its sphere, as do loyalties. In this
book, Fletcher provides the first step toward a new way of thinking
that recognizes the complexity of our moral and political lives.
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