The new Jane Jacobs book Dark Age Ahead is so far very persuasive and interesting. It’s the second book I’ve read this year on the decline of Western values/civilization (the first being The Cheating Culture). Both books so far have a very similar problem. It’s not that I don’t buy into their arguments: I do. While they make great arguments, both of the authors don’t seem to do a very good job at backing up their arguments with relevant facts. I wouldn’t fault them too much for this problem, though. They both have a similar challenge: to make a very broad statement about the state of our culture. That’s difficult to do from an objective standpoint primarily because the viewpoint presented is very subjective.

In any case, all that out of the way, while the Democratic convention is starting I think it’s worth mentioning the main point of Dark Age Ahead. I’ve read articles several times over the past year (if not more than a year) about the inability of liberals to get a consistent and compelling message out to the public — hence, the neo-conservative dis(r)evolution we’ve seen take place over the course of my lifetime. Jane Jacobs, in making her case that we’re heading to a time where we’ve forgotten what we forgot as a society and civilization, claims:

In the five chapters that follow, I single out five pillars of our culture that we depend on to stand firm, and discuss what seem to me ominous signs of their decay. They are in process of becoming irrelevant, and so are dangerously close to the brink of lost memory and cultural uselessness. These five jeopardized pillars are

• community and family (the two are so tightly connected they cannot be considered separately)
• higher education
• the effective practice of science and science-based technology (again, so tightly connected they cannot be considered separately)
• taxes and governmental powers directly in touch with needs and possibilities
• self-policing by the learned professions.

It may seem surprising that I do not single out such failings as racism, profligate environmental destruction, crime, voters’ distrust of politicians and thus low turnouts for elections, and the enlarging gulf between rich and poor along with attrition of the middle class. Why not those five, rather than the five I have selected to concentrate upon? Surely the second five indicate serious cultural dysfunction. Perhaps my judgment is wrong, but I think these second five are symptoms of breakdown in the five I have chosen to discuss. Furthermore, many North Americans are already aware of them as dangerous flaws and are trying to focus on intelligent corrections.

The five pillars: a starting point. Imagine if the Democrats could bring Jacobs’ five pillars to light over the course of the convention. There’s no advocacy for specific policies, but instead a direction for where public policy should be headed. Imagine if the Democrats could get that vision thing down pat in a way that would energize the non-voting public in addition to the base. Could the five pillars be a start?

On Community and Family: Families are too often torn apart by divorce and are left without adequate social networks, especially for the children. Republicans are not addressing the problem: they merely use scapegoats. (Insert broader vision here. Keep in mind, I’m no crafty political messenger)

On Higher Education: Our education system is failing us. Republicans have put too much emphasis on credentialing, and not enough on education. Our education system should not only teach our children how to take tests, but also how to think critically. We need to invest more in higher education to invest more in our futures.

On Taxes: It’s time for a real, meaningful overhaul of government bureaucracy. Republicans have a goal of slash and burn. We have a goal to make the government meaningful and relevant to the lives of the citizens. The government is not the enemy because we the people are the government.

And so on. Yeah, it’s a very rough draft and it’s poorly worded for a mass audience — very poorly worded. But to me, it’s still compelling. In my own head, at least, I’d like to think Jane Jacobs is on to something, and it would be worth it for the Democrats to take that message and run with it.