America’s Greatest Challenge:
Succession and Continuity
Joseph S. Bayana
Institute for the Study of Succession and Continuity (ISSC)
Irvington, New Jersey
Copyright © 2009 by The Institute for the Study of Succession and Continuity
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Institute
for the Study of Succession and Continuity
(ISSC)
www.greatestchallenge.org
ISBN: 978-1-4276-4239-4
Please visit our website
http://www.greatestchallenge.org
to know more about Succession and Continuity Studies
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Poverty is a Choice:
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Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter One
Introduction
What is Succession?
What is Continuity?
The Start of the Breakdown
Chapter Two
Younger, Faster, Better
List of Major Civilizations
Responsibility, Leadership and Decisions in the USA
Chapter Three
Family
Chapter Four
The Library of Humanity
Chronology of Compulsory School Legislation in the USA
Chapter Five
Corporations
Chapter Six
Government
The next two hundred thirty-three years
Chapter Seven
Mass Media
Chapter Eight
Religion
Epilogue
Preface
I was told this can’t be done. Brought up in the belief and given the impression by others that I was unqualified, there were a lot of discouraging moments while the research was being pursued. Unable to find anyone qualified to explain my findings, I educated myself and, by my own right, became sufficiently competent to write a book. The following is the culmination of more than twenty-five years of soul-searching, passion-pursuing, data gathering, educational system-politicking, pride-swallowing, and me-against-the-world thing. This, as the cliché goes, is a dream come true.
America’s Greatest Challenge: Succession and Continuity I hope, is the beginning of a conversation that an American-led civilization should and must have with previous and future civilizations. Literally, the dialogue would be impossible. Technically, however, it is doable.
The United States of America is the only civilization on the face of the Earth which has the capability to do an inter-civilizational conversation. I am apologizing a million times for what you are about to read, but in all honesty, the more ancient African continent can’t do it because they lost most, if not all, of their documented histories, not to mention the Library of Alexandria. What’s more, nations with rich histories are in shambles (e.g. Ethiopia), and the newer ones are unsustainable. Where will they begin?
The older Asian civilizations won’t do it because, as history has shown, they don’t like to be bothered. China, even with their rapid growth, can’t embrace unbridled freedom, and Japan doesn’t even care about the whales (non-sequitur?). The Europeans will also not do it because they don’t care and are so much into themselves they almost took the world down with them, twice, in one century. Assuming they do open up all the chronicles and records, how long will it take before the absence of American involvement makes them turn against one another again? Truthfully and with all due respect, I don’t think the other continents have the capability to converse with the civilizations as well. In short, there are just too many cultural barriers from them. Please don’t get me started about censorship.
And so we have a challenge that no other nation and culture has faced unconditionally, as stipulated in the Constitution. The United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, where democracy and capitalism secures, protects and guarantees the freedom of inquiry. No limitations, whatsoever. No holds barred; the only nation willing to make the conversation with all the cards on the table. This is the platform of my research where all the books of all the centuries are open. Here in these fifty states we can look at all of the past, the totality of the present, and unobstructed views of futures we can imagine, knowing full well that all the information we need to begin the inter-civilizational conversation can be accumulated. If we have the capability to know everything there is to know, should we just stand still and close our eyes?
The purely academic, detached-from-the-real-world, dance-finale, ride-off-to-the-sunset-end-of-the-movie where everything and everyone lives happily ever after is not going to be the framework of this research. For the freest nation on the planet, I am not proposing an elixir of life. Although some of the pages, I hope, will make you feel good, I am not to blame if they don’t. The mere fact that I can write five hundred pages about succession and continuity means someone, somewhere, can do not only the exact research processes but work and improve it as well.
This book started with a pursuit to find responses that my parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and colleagues could not provide. Unable to get the information from my elders, as mentioned above, I transformed myself into an elder and sought, then found, the solutions and answers to my own questions. It is written with a deluge of passion and a multitude of obsession.
As a consequence of my research I found it necessary to set-up a non-profit organization to promote research on the longevity of democracy and capitalism. The Institute for the Study of Succession and Continuity (ISSC) was founded for this purpose; a think-tank, using what is obviously a simple and straightforward name. This group is the centerpiece of programs and projects that cater to a pioneering multi- and inter-disciplinary field. We have a website – www.greatestchallenge.org – that is our hub for everything about succession and continuity. On the site can be found lists and rankings that we deem are relevant to the challenges of longevity, along with articles and videos which we continuously update. Aside from this book we are also coming out with an academic journal entitled, the Academic Research for Continuity (ARC). Currently, we are also organizing the first National Conference on Succession and Continuity – focusing on the longevity of the United States of America; and the first International Conference on Succession and Continuity – centering on the longevity of democracy and capitalism worldwide, each of which will be biennial. We are also in the works organizing the Continuity Technology Conference, national and international, geared towards discoveries, inventions, innovations, and infrastructures for the survival and continuity of life on Earth (not just humanity, remember Noah?) in case of a global cataclysm.
I am also hoping that our research can be an intellectual trust fund for future generations, in honor of the movers and shakers of society we’ve known, as well as those we have not known, through the ages. All I am doing here is opening the floor for dialogue and debate about succession and continuity studies. At this point all of my arguments are heuristics and, as much as possible, I avoid dreaming under a tree. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, this book is devoted to the question that I hope to answer: What is the real and factual scenario of a post-American world?
Chapter One
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance…”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strength to Love
Introduction
Two hundred thirty-three years, and most of us still think there is no end in sight for America. We have to face the truth – this mighty nation will not last forever. Nothing ever does, nothing ever will.
It’s amazing to note that we have, in this lifetime, reached a point in civilization where a conscious and concerted effort exists to surpass most, if not all, of humanity’s achievements in recorded human history. We do not only want to preserve, sustain and maintain, we also aspire to excel. Most importantly, we can accomplish all these goals without pillaging, ransacking, raping, revolts, waging relentless wars against each other, or annihilating a selected race. Nonetheless, there is still widespread belief, in the midst of all this glory, that the United States will always be here protecting everything that we hold dear. We take our systematic freedoms for granted. We fail to see that several centuries, perhaps decades, down the road of social evolution we might, on one side, revert to the practice of feudalism or, on the other, find a better alternative to democracy and capitalism. Should we go for the latter? If we reach that point in time, what is the relevance of America? On the other hand, what if there was a world in the very near (most likely far off) future where the individual liberties we hold so dear, the wealth that we treasure so much, and the traditions and customs we regard so highly are no longer as effective and productive as they once were?
What if there is the United States of the World? Probably not in our lifetimes, but let’s not get too carried away and think ultimate Utopia or Shangri-la, or an ideal communal system where everything belongs to everyone and we all ride off to the sunset at the end of the movie to live happily ever after. Happy endings in fairy tales are widely accepted because a lot of people don’t understand the complexities of, say, politics and economics so we go for the easier explanation. It’s an endless pursuit that’s been going on ever since humanity began understanding his surroundings and tried explaining it. If, however, this was reality, what would people do next if mankind was already living happily ever after?
Let’s get to the point and just say the United States of America has ceased to exist. The nation is no longer a viable entity. For one reason or another, humanity has given up on this system of freedom, equality, and opportunity, and found a better way of life. What does civilization do? What do we do as individuals? It’s not as if we can educate our kids about an instant replacement, pack our things, and transfer to the new nation or society. It won’t be that easy, and the solutions might not be that fair.
At any rate, is there a better way of life in a post-American world?
There’s a lot to know and understand about a civilization before we provide an alternative. It was easier to present the other side of the coin when Fascism and Communism were still in vogue. Capitalism and democracy, then, was deemed as the offshoot of greed and irresponsibility. For a time there was a great belief they would succumb to changes supposedly more beneficial to mankind. Now, it’s even harder to think of a feasible and better substitute faced with the reality that the status quo is the best social experiment in human history. Even if we find one, when we do, and even before we begin to use it we must look at the extent of our responsibilities through all the generations, our leadership and decision-making abilities, concerning other people, organisms and the environment. Only then can America be replaced.
It takes a certain gift to comprehend the consequences of present actions relevant to the welfare and existence of future generations; to be able to decide what buttons to push, when to push them, and when to talk about the dynamism of the different ages. So we relegate the responsibilities of succession and continuity to those who think and whom we think know it best. Earlier civilizations referred to them as seers, clairvoyants and, on extraordinary occasions, prophets. These are men and women gifted enough to have the vision of understanding the future and predicting the outcome of the well-being of others. They are ones who laid down the path, so to speak, for us to follow. The present age of reason gives us a better understanding of the faculties they possess. We refer to such people as our leaders or people in authority. By default we often leave matters of succession and continuity to individuals who are highly capable, or so it may seem, of making decisions or setting up policies and strategies. It is expected that they have within themselves and their spheres of influence the knowledge and experience over and above an ordinary person. Ordinarily, they are called scholars or academicians, clergy, parents, presidents, CEOs, or managers, who have the penchant (although not always) of being at the right place at the right time making them standouts of past, present and the future generations. These are individuals who can see the big picture and can empathize with more people, and in return we look up to them for guidance and direction.
Beyond the capability of an individual, we refer to organizations or institutions like the government, organized religion, schools, corporations, and family elders. A collective body can be and do more than the sum of its parts. The ideals that these organizations and institutions represent are polarizing and most of us adhere to its tenets all our lives, expecting the same from our descendants. It is what keeps our civilization intact. However, we have come to a point in American history that what we pass on to the next generation can be taken for granted because the institutions that make our lives so productive provide a continuous nurturing environment from pre-cradle to post-grave. Wealth, knowledge, morality, ethics, spirituality and reproduction are matters that overlap biological, social, cultural, political and economic affairs; an indispensible necessity demanded by our growing interdependence and the ever-growing complexity of human life. Americans, as a people, trust these institutions more than any other individual, living or dead. This faith is what allows us to continue to exist.
No other nation in human history has spread so much wealth and education to so many places, to so many people, in such a short amount of time than the United States of America. In two hundred thirty-two years we achieved what other nations and civilizations could not accomplish in hundreds, even thousands, of years of existence. Today, America stands as the world’s last and lone super power. We were able to achieve this because of the highest concentration of knowledge in human history. Ironically, America is also history’s greatest contributor to environmental degradation, displaced more people from their traditional habitats and workplaces, and waged the most destructive wars in all of human civilization. The knowledge we accumulated came with an even higher level of ignorance about the consequences of our actions. The advances have come at an enormous expense, and she has done this in only a period of just over two centuries. We, as a nation and civilization, are stupid and wise; inutile because we didn’t know (as much as it was then impossible for us to comprehend) the consequences of unprecedented progress, and brilliant because we have done so much with so little.
What else do we not know about our nation and our civilization? When this question is ultimately answered, all bets are off that the start of the breakdown will come for we have stopped learning. There is simply nowhere else to go or nothing else to achieve for a civilization. For now, the American social experiment continues and no better system has so far been found or proven. No prior civilization can come close to the achievements of the United States. To paraphrase economist Herbert Simon’s statement on measures and candidates, “You can’t defeat (America) by pointing to (its) defects and inadequacies. You must offer an alternative.”1 Democracy is incessantly redefined and refined by its leaders to be able to adapt to an ever-growing economy. Capitalism is fine-tuned to reach unimaginable heights in unprecedented ways. All the while, there is a constant pursuit of equality in diversity. Though cynics, naysayers and detractors say otherwise, there seems no end to the balancing act towards progress.
The end of the Second World War marked a point in the nation’s history when our nation could afford to think not only about sheer survival. Its leaders, with the consent and cooperation of other foreign governments, began to think long term. Today, in the United States basic necessities such as food, housing and shelter have become grossly abundant and widely available even for the poverty stricken. There is no immediate threat of widespread disease that can decimate the population. And there has not been a major war against the United States for over fifty years. What could be perceived as fatal threats to this nation’s existence came early in its history, brought by the perils of a displaced colonizer and a civil war that almost permanently divided the nation. In the second half of its existence the nation played its role as global overseer twice, each after two world wars, but the battles were fought on foreign soil. Even terrorist attacks similar to September 11, 2001, can only target cities. Overlapping national security measures have made it virtually impossible to annihilate the entire nation in one or a handful of strikes. By taking an active and immense role in the creation of international institutions that reflected its ideals, e.g. the United Nations, World Trade Agreement, or the North American Treaty Organization, to name a few, America transformed humanity and shifted its priorities to help ensure our way of life.
We get oil from the Middle East, clothes made in Central America, cocoa from Africa, and toys from China. The principle of “providing for our posterity” may initially have been tied directly to natural resources, but after two hundred years of laying down the groundwork the world’s biggest economy has the capability and capacity to concentrate most of her efforts to provide a better future, not only for Americans but also for the whole world.
Yet, for all its glorious achievements and the level of civilization it has attained the United States of America cannot last forever. Perhaps one day a humungous meteor will come from the sky, or the polar caps will melt flooding the east and west coast, or global warming will create widespread droughts, or the four horse men of the Apocalypse will come and smite the sinners, or hostile aliens from another world will attack, or Armageddon will begin to unfold, or some other end-of-the-world-scenario-imagined-only-by-Hollywood-writers will make civilization, as we know it, cease to exist. Maybe all of these will happen in one generation. Until the vaunted End of Days, End of Time, or whatever this fearsome end may be called, such millennial concepts of how America will be obliterated from the face of the Earth is not the subject of this book. Let’s also stay away from science fiction and let’s be more realistic.
The future that America faces is still factual and realistic. Despite originality in its brand of democracy, regardless of the ways and means to accumulate more wealth, and in the face of scientific advances and technological wonders, America’s greatest challenge will be to ensure succession and continuity. The most liberal nation on the face of the Earth means nothing if that same freedom will allow the degradation of moral and spiritual values in our society. The world’s richest country is worthless if it could not teach the next generation what to do with that wealth. And the world’s last super power will be a danger to itself if it does not protect its future.
The Challenge defined
When you’re at the top there’s no lack of want for you to be put down. Let’s have a quick rundown of America’s great challenges during the past two hundred thirty-two years. Right after the Declaration of Independence there was the colonizer and it took until 1815 to dispense with them. Then there were the neighbors to the south that lost a war and gave up their land in 1848. In less than twenty years, it seemed that the great experiment in democracy would implode with the Civil War but that was eventually settled with emancipation and the relentless preservation of the Union. By 1898, another great colonizer tried to fight American advancement with obsolescence. It too failed. Within another twenty years we were capable of ignoring the results of a war that almost tore the old world apart, which put the United States in an even greater standing in world affairs. Ten years later by 1929 we almost succumbed to a challenge no one could have possibly prevented. We took that in stride, and it had to take a Second World War to set the world economy back on track. Then Communism and the Cold War came and that eventually went away after an unprecedented economic development in the wake of the War on Poverty. The beginning of the twenty first century saw American knowledge and technology used against itself with the attacks of September 11. The war isn’t over but we’re bombarding the enemy with our best weapon – information – not to mention the battles against insurgents waged on two fronts. By the end of the first decade of this millennium, and at the time of this book’s writing, the economy was in shambles. Recession’s effects often lead to more opportunities for economic progress, so when the dust has settled and everything is set and done, what would be America’s greatest challenge?
I believe that there is nothing in this world that the United States can’t deal with except humanity’s own ignorance. There are a lot of things we don’t know as a nation and as a civilization, and to continue to admit to that ignorance feeds our ever-growing appetite for information. The moment the Library of Congress stops accepting new volumes is one sign of the start of the breakdown. Another signal, perhaps, would be the abolition or restriction of the First Amendment in the Constitution. American history has shown, and we already know, that we can handle the world and all, if not most, of its affairs. Yet, for everything that can be controlled and manipulated one uncertain fact is glooming in the horizon, and that is we really don’t know how long all of these are going to last. To throw it all up in the air and say that fate will determine the course of American history is to say that the best educational and research institutions in the world are all reading tea leaves at the bottom of a cup, or looking for patterns in the intestines of a sacrificed sheep. To continue to ignore how an American-led civilization is going to end is similar to letting go of the steering wheel in an oncoming collision; the accident could have been avoided if we turned left or right and not rely on the seatbelt or safety features of the vehicle to save our lives. To say that all of the United States is not going to end now or in the near future is to admit ignorance in the midst of intellectual splendor; we know something malevolent could happen, and something could be done about it yet we continue to evade answering the question. And to ultimately set aside succession and continuity is to admit that life never ends, a patient may never get sick, much less die, or relegate the idea that it’s just bad luck to talk about. Here we are the most powerful and intellectual civilization in human history, bar none, and we blatantly admit to the glaring unawareness of an intimidating, more so overwhelming, phenomenon. Talk about the deer looking at the approaching headlights. But we are not passive mammals.
That’s why it’s a challenge – a continuous invitation to prolong the American way of life, and eventually raise it to a higher level from, to name a few, George Washington, to John Adams, to Thomas Jefferson, to Abraham Lincoln, to Theodore Roosevelt, to John F. Kennedy, to Ronald Reagan, and now to Barrack Obama. To ensure the longevity of the USA, much less its survival, merely as a duty, responsibility, or role is to undermine the spirit of the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. These American achievements were not based on whims. No leader of this nation was forced into the position, hesitant, and unwittingly elected making decisions that wholly ignored the plight of the people. There were always feedbacks, checks and balances, and the persistent and constant call above and beyond what is expected of ordinary people. For them there simply was no room for complacency. Therefore, it is of no lesser degree than a challenge.
Modifying the challenge using the superlative “greatest” is to raise the same question to all who doubt the validity of the thesis. Of all things controllable by humanity there simply is no greater challenge than succession and continuity. Although three other threats instantly come to mind and may be brought as exceptions to the rule: a comet from outer space that will annihilate all life on Earth, global warming, and perhaps the unpredictable global economy. The first is an uncontrollable phenomenon that mankind’s feeble mind is yet to overcome. Fortunately, the menace that we face simultaneously brought by the last two can also be solved by answers that we get from the first. America’s best weapon in solving problems has been, and always will be, knowledge and information. Study the phenomenon, create jobs that will drive the economy, and eventually eradicate the problem. It may sound too simplistic but there is nothing that research and development can’t overcome. We’ve already proven this during the last twenty decades. Waiting for a heavenly body to destroy our planet and do nothing about it goes against the very nature of all thinking men. We might as well create jobs and enjoy life while we wait for what science believes is inevitable. The same goes with global warming and the slowing economy. There are just too many things that we can accomplish with human potential. To even suggest that resources are scarce is to adhere to the belief, although in a more sophisticated way, that man is ignorant. There is just no limit to what we can do as a species on this Earth. Resources are scarce because man has not maximized his (or her) potential to harness both human and natural resources. We have only begun to scratch the surface of mankind’s full intellectual abilities. It’s the same way raw materials have been harnessed to feed and build for the world’s population. We bring down mountains and cut down whole forests for our industries without knowing that which lies beneath deeper within the Earth’s oceans and crust. To help solve mankind’s economic problems we have to dig deeper both intellectually and with our industries. That’s why it’s the “greatest challenge” for it is from within ourselves that we get all the answers, empowered by the human mind that knows no limitations.
This greatest challenge that we face is brought by the possibility that America may cease to exist because of some unforeseeable factor that is inherent in man. As we get more and more knowledgeable and sophisticated it gets harder and harder to pinpoint. But one factor holds true; that one wrong decision coming from one individual who has the responsibility and leadership can bring the downfall of an entire civilization. This may happen in one generation, or it may begin in one and lead up to the future. All it takes is one unidentifiable, irrational, even intangible action or decision that will lead to what I refer to as the start of the breakdown. This will bring us to the expected domino effect. Where it starts and where it comes from no one really knows. The bottom line is (if I may be permitted with a bit of cynicism), we are a threat to ourselves. Therein lays the greatest challenge of all. As mighty as it may seem, this nation must be able to show that it is not just a fashion statement. There should be no social or economic complacency with the thought that the accomplishments and achievements of previous and present Americans will be sufficient for all present and future Americans.
What is Succession?
Succession, from the Latin successio or succedere, is the hand-over process from one generation to another. The responsibility of handing-over civilization’s accomplishments (morals, values, norms, wealth, assets, power, knowledge, wisdom, science, technology, etc.) to succeeding generations belongs to a leader. Although succession takes place between and among successors who are either individuals or institutions, it is the leader of the institution who decides what accomplishments are handed over to posterity. There may be willingness on the part of the earlier generation to entrust this to the younger generation, also referred to as the direct line of succession, such as choosing a new Pope or Cardinal, the founder of a family business selecting the next in line, or a professor mentoring a graduate student. Then again, this willingness may not be a conscious effort but succession still occurs, as in the case of the American Founding Fathers who established a nation, a prodigal son who becomes a successful entrepreneur, and enigmatic students who were deprived of a learning environment in their homes but have excelled academically in school.
The phrase “hand-over” is used as opposed to “hand-me-downs,” which younger generations are also accustomed to such as clothing, jewelry, toys, etc. The latter phrase implies that a previous generation is better than its descendants, brought about by traditional demands for respect and honor of the elderly who pass on their cherished belongings. Had this been the case for the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we would not have been able to surpass what the Founding Fathers achieved with their wildest imaginations. A “hand-me-down” also brings with it a term of deterioration or decomposition, the shelf-life if you will. Being irreplaceable does not necessarily mean it could not be made better. It is this non-stop potential for reform and the freedom of changing/amending our platforms of governance and society that enables America to do better and greater things without sacrificing the principles of freedom, democracy, and free-market capitalism. Recipients of the hand-over process are not just expected to retain accomplishments or achievements. There will always be an implied sense of “what are you going to do with it? You just can’t keep it forever,” similar to a relay race where winning means an efficient and productive passing of the baton. Hence, the hand-over.
Although material things may be of great importance, an edifice perhaps, a painting or a sculpture, the intangibles are of greater concern with succession. Values, ethics, morality, spirituality or faith in God or a Supreme Being are just some examples of what can be handed-over. In the specific case of a nation such as the United States, patriotism, nationalism, democracy and free-market capitalism are just some of the non-material remnants of earlier generations. Open and susceptible to innumerable interpretations, the intangibles are exposed to compromises and compatibilities, which may lead to malfeasance or magnificence; the end results of which only latter generations can despise or appreciate. These grey areas pose greater threats to the viability of the nation and, to a greater extent, a civilization. The Louisiana Purchase, Emancipation Proclamation, for a time the Commonwealth (Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico), and the War on Poverty are just some of the examples of unprecedented policies that are seen as successful today, but were sensitive balancing acts of yesteryears. Unrestricted stem cell research, same-sex marriage, and abortion are just some issues future generations face that can make or break America. The correlation between freedom and responsibility may not always be clear and balanced.
Successors of monarchies, on the other hand, pass on to their direct descendants responsibilities and positions of leadership. Their brand of succession and continuity is more predictable. Americans do not have that benefit. We have to choose virtual nobodies as our leaders whose family ties or lineage may invoke recollection but is not always an assurance of election or appointment to an office. Their lifetime accomplishments become the basis of their qualifications, which basically gives, for example, a potential American president a minimum of forty-two years to willfully take the cudgels of what’s being handed-over to him or, perhaps one day, her. All it takes to prove worthiness is the substance of personal existence.
The phrase “from one generation to another” is also given emphasis. Instead of “from one generation to the next generation,” the word “next” has been omitted because it was not seen as a prerequisite in the definition and process of succession and continuity. As will be seen with the examples in the following chapters, success in succession and continuity happens even after it skips one or several generations, as long as there is an institution or individual willing to carry on American ideals for the greater good.
This is when processes synonymous to succession can be quite deceiving. An inheritance, for instance, can portray the successor as blessed with wealth as a birthright, which becomes an object of envy for those who are born without. In the same sense an endowment or entitlement can be handed down to succeeding generations, more often a specific heir chosen to carry on with the family name and legacy. These inter-generational transitions do not carry with them an automatic sense of continuity, as will be described in the chapter on the Family, for without the challenge successors become mere keepers or watchers of the achievements of earlier generations. Passive in their attitude, lingering in their intent, no progress is achieved with the measuring stick of longevity. These synonyms of succession are advantageous to the life of individuals or organizations, but with blatant skeptics come optimistic assurances or guarantees of continuity, as will be further explained in the contents of the book. Greater still, in the case of the United States, is succession’s prime function as a starting point of ensuring that the nation continues to be an independent, viable and functional economic, political, social and cultural entity.
Succession is not merely ascension into power or to fill a position of authority, as stipulated in a written document like the US Constitution or a businessman’s will. The process is neither strictly legal, mechanical nor purely academic, for the United States’ greatest fear is to have an American assume a position of immense power and great authority only to see that leader be our version of Romulus Augutus – Rome’s last emperor. Woe to the generation that would see the start, and eventually be part, of the breakdown. What is perhaps the most sensitive issue as a result of succession is that it’s democratic only until such time that a decision has to be made. The more integral and controversial the decision, the more authoritarian the process of succession becomes, as a decision-maker has to make choices the consequences of which may exclude a certain part of the population. Representatives of Rhode Island, for instance, refused to sign the charter during the Constitutional Convention but the state was nevertheless accepted by the government of the United States in 1789.
A successor is an individual who, or an institution that, has responsibility for what’s been handed-over from one generation to another. Individuals in this position are sometimes described as keepers or watchers enabling a link between generations. The invocation of the primogeniture, or the right of the first born to succeed in his father’s stead, is similar to the principle of seniority found in organizations. Although the senior members of society have an advantage in gaining accomplishments, there are occasions where the age range is not so wide between or among generations. We see these in older siblings who mentor younger brothers or sisters or fraternities or sororities in school or sports.
Accomplishments may also be handed-over between and among individuals of the same age, or successors who are sometimes older, as in religious organization or major corporations where someone who has an advanced education imparts the accomplishments. Prolonging or maintaining the effects or consequences of previous achievements are the main duties of a successor. This is extended beyond a human lifespan, or given a multiplier effect, with institutional successors. Further explanations will be provided in the different chapters of the book.
The bridge of succession and continuity, between and among individuals of similar or different generations, can be found in socio-economic institutions that are prevalent in present day civilization. These are:
Family
School
Corporation
Government
Mass Media
Religion
These major institutions of society can be found all over the United States and most, if not all, nations around the world. They may have overlapping or multiple responsibilities all in varying degrees. Beyond the power, influence and knowledge of any individual successor an institutional successor stands. American succession relies on a constant cycle with both institution and individual creating each other. Its starting point, at least for the United States of America, can be marked with the establishment of the first federal government and the promulgation of the Constitution. No single family but a conglomerate of families founded the nation (which may be open to debate because, taken literally, there were Founding Fathers but their spouses and offsprings where never identified). Moreover, the freedoms granted, secured, protected and guaranteed by the fundamental law of the land enables any freedom-loving individual or institution, anywhere, to take up the accomplishments of any and/or all other previous and future civilizations (this will be explained further in the book). As a result, the United States, with its predilection for the freedom of speech and information, is a successor of all these previous social institutions and human civilizations. Everyone has access to the accumulated knowledge and information of mankind. We just have not come to a point in history, if ever we shall, to wholly comprehend our full and total stance in the scheme of things.
It is expected that one should build on the merits and accomplishments of ancestors, and that each generation should look for ways and means to make life better for succeeding generations. Not to be able to do so means regression. Standards of performance are based on effective, efficient, productive, and pro-active actions and decisions; measuring sticks that are ambiguous and pliable, which are characteristics of most social contracts. Of course, the opposite – ineffective, inefficient, unproductive, and reactive responses – are similarly flexible and vague; both sides resolved only by the invocation of the encompassing principles of checks and balances.
What is Continuity?
Continuity is the process of ensuring that the accumulated accomplishments of previous and present generations will endure, handed-over to succeeding generations, and consequently taken to a higher level. This process is not reliant on the factors of material wealth, which may be lost or gained, or infrastructures, which may be demolished by nature and man due to the passage of time or during periods of war. Rather, this process focuses on human constructs, most especially, generally-accepted values, traditions, wisdom, knowledge, customs and practices. Some are strictly retained, and others are modified or adapted for expected changes. Seldom, if ever, are these dispensed with. This process avoids arbitrary decisions that changes from one generation to the next, to which the balance between the preservation of tradition and the culmination of progress is a distinctive trait. Most importantly, there is no limit to the time frame for continuity. The invocation of a precedent – a philosophical, historical or legal basis for judgments and decisions – is the most obvious example. Such was the case when Abraham Lincoln justified the war against the South as an act to preserve the Union, or when John F. Kennedy cited the Monroe Doctrine to legitimize his blockade of Cuba at the height of the missile crisis. The true test of continuity occurs when the chosen successor disregards or disappoints expectations and loses moral or political authority to decide. This is when an indirect successor comes into play and takes the cudgels of succession, and hopefully continuity itself. Sometimes this is a lifetime commitment. More often than not, it is a fleeting moment in time when an extraordinary sense of social responsibility kicks in for the good of the majority. In essence, continuity is the bastion for critical decision-makers, those who see it upon themselves to carry the torch for success when most are reluctant or unable. The legacies that these people leave behind are not dormant or stagnant. They are not monuments to accomplishments or achievements but tools to better the lives and welfare of future generations.
Thus, if succession necessitates a successor, continuity obviously brings a continuer – an individual or institution that, to a greater degree than successors, ensures succession and continuity (from hereon referred to as S&C) take place, and takes all these to a higher level. There may be willingness or unwillingness, at first, conscious or unconscious task on the part of both the successor and the continuer. There have been countless times in the annals of American history when its finest men and women have sacrificed their lives, military or otherwise, for the nation even without hesitation. Individual successors may possess a sense of entitlement where passion and commitment are present, similar in nature to a continuer; the distinction between the two lies where continuers see the process as a nobler and higher cause that should be undertaken without the benefit of an immediate and perceivable reward. Longevity with progress, and not just survival and retention, is the ultimate goal for the continuer. They may be selective in their choices of what accomplishments can and should be continued as some accomplishments may be compromised for another. In such cases, what may seem as a failure as a result of exclusion may actually spell success for all. This happens rarely and is the mark of what is usually referred to as great visionaries. One continuer or a generation of continuers can adjust or fine-tune accomplishments, reinterpret if you will, so that it may suit the present or future requirements of successors and/or continuers. One good example is George Washington giving up the chance to be president of the USA for life. By recognizing that his leadership would set the trend he laid down the precedent which all future American leaders would follow. Other examples can be seen in family businesses when a successor totally redefines the family business to adjust to technological advancements, and in religion when Pope John Paul II apologized for the Inquisition. Other examples will be discussed further in the respective chapters of the different institutions.
As mentioned above, succession and continuity mostly happens, and perhaps are most successful, when they take place among and between institutions. At the same time this is where it gets most tricky. The continuity that is sought may lead to short, and/or medium-term gains, but may not necessarily lead to long-term advantages that will benefit both S&C. Therein lies the difficulty of differentiating or identifying a successor from a continuer. Institutions allocate the responsibilities, but most successors fall short of greater expectations. Long term success is hard to predict and even impossible to measure, and often successors deem change as a threat rather than a challenge. Thus, myopia in succession and continuity happens or the processes don’t occur at all.
Succession and continuity must not also be seen merely as processes, but eventually as universal values that should be generally-accepted. Although history has shown that S&C is more often than not initiated and shaped by a small, knowledgeable minority, it is with the acceptance by the greater majority of Americans, and of the freedom-loving world, that S&C has a more positive effect on the United States and, of course, to the rest of the world. The tasks of the successors and the continuers are not at all different. However, continuers have the unique initiative that separates him or her from the rest of the pack. Although there is the constant challenge for both successor and continuer to excel, the latter seeks opportunities of enterprise and expansion unseen by the successor. Often, the successor will, in the midst of material and financial abundance, become complacent and risk averse. We have seen this time and again with family businesses, corporations and governments where economic growth and expansion is not prevalent. Rare are the successors and continuers who can anticipate problems that their own, and often unknown, successors and continuers would face in the future, which makes the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution the centerpiece of this elite group. Democracy and capitalism – essentially the freedom of self-determination – have leaders with corresponding responsibilities who take on the challenge of deciding for themselves and for others without imposing. For America, the Founding Fathers was a generation of men who took the responsibilities, leadership, and its corresponding decisions from the past, carried them over to the present, and institutionalized the hand-over processes to future generations. However, the known and unknown, as well as famous and infamous, men and women who founded this great nation were not the original source of these processes. Some were successors, others continuers, handing-over accumulated accomplishments and ensuring these processes perpetually take place. The institutionalization of freedom and responsibility, as found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and explained in the following pages, is the basis of the limitless potential of everything.
Continuers are also vulnerable to reversion, regression or the total disappearance of the practices of S&C processes, which may bring the deceptions brought by authority, positions and traditions. The omnipresence of the challenge is what keeps successors and continuers on their toes or on the edge, for without this confrontation America cannot continue to exist. In effect, S&C both builds upon and reinterprets the set of “informal values or norms” found in “social capital – a set of informal values or norms shared among members of a group that permits cooperation among them.”2 A motivation may not truly be determined, as successors and continuers may believe or understand the significance of social capital, or they may not as the results of their decisions and actions fall short of productive expectations. These may be seen during times of the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars, when foreign policies were reinterpreted in order to protect American interests. Even the industrial revolution with all the technological, scientific, and intellectual accomplishments Americans were (and in some cases still are) ignorant of the fact that for the past two hundred thirty years, in order for us to acquire all this wealth and achieve unprecedented progress, we had to begin destroying the ecological and environmental balance of the planet (it’s not over yet). S&C of, and in, America is also seen in terms of the proliferation of wealth that leads to scientific discoveries and technological innovation, inclusive of the nation’s implied or overt sense of morality and spirituality. The United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776. Everything referred to before this date is pre-American, and all things referred to after this date is American, which leads to the inevitability of a post-American period in human civilization. It would be hard pressed to identify successors or continuers during this brief period making the power of choice a requisite ingredient for the challenge. Yet even the choice of non-choices can be offset. Longevity, for America and for all of human civilization as a whole, should be sought without sacrificing economic progress and should not be seen in terms of two, three, four or even five hundred generations, but rather a process that is manifested in perpetuity.
This is where institutions are most important as the bridge or link. Similar to the oft-cited cycle of chicken-and-the-egg, individuals create institutions that in turn create individuals that further promote the ideals and values leading to the creation of more institutions. Where a single linear continuity, for example the Papacy of the Catholic Church, has been proven to be ideal for longevity, diversified continuity, as in the case of the United States, allows for greater economic expansion as found in corporations and other economic institutions. (It is interesting to note, however, that the longevity of the former is based on religion of the faith, and the relative youthful, fleeting and transferable success of the latter is brought by the religion of profit).
Individuals or institutions must lay the groundwork for future generations. Simply put, succession is leaving something for someone to pick up, while continuity is picking up something that was left behind only to do the process all over again but with better results. And there are no fixed rules. All civilizations are permutations; humanity’s attempt to create a semblance of order. To think that there were truly pure and genuine Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Russian, etc. is to think of geographical locations or physical appearances as the basis of civilizations. Obviously, they are not that simple. The American permutation, or the melting pot as it’s popularly known, is presently the dominant permutation that inherited certain traits and characteristics, hitherto unidentifiable in its entirety (and highly doubtful if we ever will identify everything in the foreseeable future), of all previous permutations.
Factors of Succession and Continuity
Each and every civilization is reliant on a set of factors that enable individuals and institutions to hand-over and ensure selected and/or the collective accomplishments. The complexity and variety of human life on the planet makes simple categorizations impossible. No single scholastic field, nor a handful of academic disciplines, can completely explain S&C. Historical contexts and cultural differences must also be taken into consideration. To determine and explain how to take an active part and get a full appreciation of the S&C, three essential factors have been identified:
Responsibility – an individual or institution’s accountability to the welfare of other individuals and institutions. This factor is best understood by empathizing with other individuals and institutions, and by enumerating and/or writing a list of responsibilities. As the list grows longer one’s concern for S&C will increase; as the list grows shorter, or disappears entirely, concern for S&C will decrease and fade away. The list of responsibilities (elaborated here in the first person) should include:
People
Who are the people under my responsibility?
Who are the people who gave me these responsibilities?
Write all the names, their age, backgrounds, and their responsibilities.
Wealth/assets
How much wealth and assets am I responsible for?
What am I, and the people with me, doing with these wealth and assets?
Where would all this wealth go after I pass away?
What will the people do with my wealth after I pass away, and what are the effects of their decisions?
Organizations and/or Institutions (hereon known as OI)
What OIs am I responsible for?
What responsibilities have been given to me by these OIs?
How far in the past do my responsibilities go back to?
How long into the future do these responsibilities have to be carried?
Leadership – an individual or institution’s responsibility and authority over people and their responsibilities. Anyone in history who has power and authority. One can be elected to a position, assume it by birthright, or create a position for himself or herself. Ancient times referred to these people as patriarchs, matriarchs, chiefs, tribal leaders, pharaohs, prophets, etc. Modern times commonly refer to them as managers, politicians, parents, and administrators, to name a few. Leadership is a constant throughout history. Assumption into a position of power and authority, however, does not automatically make leaders. Comprehension of S&C will increase as the responsibility of a leader increases, and likewise diminishes in negating other responsibilities.
Decisions – the course of action taken given a set of options that include or exclude, as the case may be, personal responsibilities, while simultaneously considering leadership. Leaders are prepared to understand and face the consequences of the choices that they make, not only for themselves but for everyone who will be affected by the decisions. Decisions cannot be thrown up in the air without consequences. Be aware that consequences do not only last for one lifetime or several lifetimes. Some consequences of decisions may stay with society for several generations, both negative and the positive. This is especially true with a growing sense of leadership. Decisions made in succession and continuity, although highly influenced by economics, is not entirely reliant on the allocation and distribution of wealth and resources.
People are born, live and die, which is pretty much the same OIs. Individuals have shorter life spans and some of these ideas last even beyond OIs, and what accounts for this staying power and longevity is most often attributed, respectively, to charisma or power and stability and security.
Failure of succession and continuity happens when successors see the process as a mere social duty, or ignore it altogether. They just go through the motions of their responsibilities with total disregard of the consequences of their actions and decisions. Thus, we see historical judgments where successors are not really successors but temporary overseers who have attained a level of authority in society but fail to ensure continuity.
Ignorance – the lack and improper use of information – by both successors and continuers, along with their followers, what economists ordinarily refer to as agents, play a great role in the effectiveness of S&C. Limited spheres of responsibility and leadership, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, will limit these processes. Refusal to arrive at, or the delay of, decisions will also lead to conflicts between and among agents. To suppress or limit divergence knowledge and wisdom is required with decisions. Education and learning expands the ability to decide. If a successor or continuer knows about, in no particular order, economics, politics, history, philosophy, science, technology, the arts and music, to name a few, that person would be better off making a decision that would benefit more people than someone who only understands several of the abovementioned disciplines. Simply put, if one can only count up to five, one cannot hope to understand the concepts or consequences of making decisions by choosing six, seven, eight, nine, or ten.
Finally, the distinction between S&C, survival and preservation should also be made. Survival is the process that must take place when there is a threat to the existence of America, which is no longer present, much less prevalent. As mentioned in the History of Succession, America proved it can survive a global threat after the Second World War. The Cold War was, in my opinion, the first great threat to American continuity; a challenge democracy and free-market capitalism won out on as I’ll explain in the Chapter on Government.
Preservation – the process by which people retain, maintain, and sustain, without discernable progress or development, the prevailing American civilization – is a sign of implied weakness on the part of the United States of America. This may be fence-sitting, a growing tendency to alienate ourselves from a perception of over-achieving, and thereby settling for whatever has already been attained (if you were the heiress of a billionaire hotel mogul, would you take part in the family corporation’s productive affairs, or settle to be a celebrity as consequence of a best-selling adult video? Go figure).
Free-market capitalism, in an appropriate figurative manner, is what keeps a roof on our heads as a nation. The six institutions of the family, education, corporation, government, mass media, and religion are the pillars that keep the house standing. Democracy, and all its variations such as freedom and liberty, is the foundation. Individuals are the bricks that make up the entire edifice. Lastly, what binds all of this together is the mortar known as the social contract (see illustration below).
The house built with Democracy and Capitalism, and the Institutions as pillars.
The Start of the Breakdown
With or without warning, signs, and awareness the beginning of the end will come. It is inevitable. Mankind’s knowledge about the vaunted end-of-days ranges from the great deluge, to the Apocalypse, to nuclear annihilation, the Y2K bug, and the more recently-discovered cyclical comet slamming the face of the Earth. We have a knack of throwing our fates into the sky, as if we are not capable of controlling our environment. Most human accomplishments are seen as extraordinary flukes of our natural being. For a great part of human history evolution granted the best chances to realize exceptional achievements. One day, as a result of our higher intellect, technology will create artificial intelligence. As a consequence of our medical experiments we will engineer an indestructible super-virus. As a result of our ignorance, simply said, we can destroy ourselves. The start of the breakdown comes from the same processes that led to the downfall of the civilizations of, to name a few, Babylon, Sumeria, and the ancient kingdoms of Egypt, India, Greece, and Rome. It comes from one wrong decision, the effects of which are compounded over generations. It’s like taking away a brick or piece of mortar from an edifice one at a time. Initially, the effects are merely aesthetic. Eventually, even the façade is no longer appealing to the senses and a major reconstruction is needed. In the end, the edifice is a shadow of its original self; everything that the building has to offer has been put to good use and its inhabitants are left no choice but to move on and find another shelter. An American-led civilization is not much different, and even more vulnerable. What bit or parcel of our freedom would we use now or tomorrow that will bring the United States to its knees in the future? What is it about capitalism that will make us stop sharing the wealth? What will we do to democracy to destroy ourselves?