Founded in 1630, the Boston Common has been used for public grazing as well as for public executions. It has been the site of political protests, and the encampment of the British soldiers who marched on Lexington and Concord in April of 1776. Millions of visitors have enjoyed this lovely public space as they set off along the Freedom Trail.
Across New England, and here on the north shore, we have elegant if somewhat worn examples of a Common, including of course the Salem Common - a public space enveloped in October by autumnal revelers.
But why would I choose to take a moment here to reflect on one of my favorite public spaces - The Boston Common? Much as I love the urban grasslands bordered by Tremont, Boylston, Park, Beacon, and Charles streets, what I really admire is the very idea of the Common.
The idea and ideal that created and for nearly four centuries protected the Common has been under assault for thirty years. And the last eight years of political life in America was nothing but a relentless attack on everything the Common and the common good represents.
America is the product of two powerful narratives which compete for cultural and political supremacy. English colonists brought with them the idea of the Commons (they even dubbed their new colony a "commonwealth," a moniker it retains today). Apart from abstract notions of government for the common welfare, the Commons for most of these folks was about land. Tradition allowed the landless to utilize arable pasture land - even that which might be privately owned. Such traditions reinforced the still under-developed notion of the common good.
Juxtaposed against this idea of the common good is the narrative of private property rights and the claim of rights of ownership unfettered by public regulation. Each man holds dominion over his own castle and no other may attempt to abridge an effort to expand that castle's size and reach.
In the 17th and 18th centuries a movement emerged in England called the "Enclosure" movement. This active enterprise of the wealthy landed class resulted in the acquisition of common lands, sometimes by force, by those who subsequently fenced in the land not for public use but for private gain.
It is certainly possible to read our history as a struggle between these two powerful ideas and urgings of common good and private gain. Since the era of Ronald Reagan in the early 1980's, the idea and ideal of the sovereignty and supremacy of private property has grown and expanded to an unprecedented degree. The idea of the Common good has been regarded by many to be a quaint notion, celebrated (perhaps a bit cynically) during times of national celebration or national crisis. But for the most part it is an idea that has been shrinking in the face of the contemporary Enclosure Movement. Led by the Right - mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats - this movement has sought to privatize everything from our national parklands to our military. Privatization: the updated term for Enclosure. Destroy or diminish the places and spaces we know as the Commons, allowing for the expansion of private property rights and unregulated free markets.
And where has this new Enclosure Movement gotten us? A new Gilded Age where wealth is concentrated in fewer hands than at any time in our nation's history. A war that has cost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. And, of course, a financial system that turns out to be largely a ponzi scheme by and for the wealthiest among us. And now, in defense of the Common, the citizen and taxpayer is being asked to pay for the financial carnage.
President Obama is now attempting to restore some balance to our political economy and political culture by arguing again for the restoration of the Commons. To many his rhetoric sounds, well, radical, and yet all the President is saying to us as Americans is that we have this other narrative about our nation that for too long has been suppressed and sacrificed in the name of private gain. Supply side economics, the economic gospel of the Right, is not merely a model for running our economy. It is also an ideological platform from which to attack any attempt to assert the rights of the Commons. For this ideological fervor we have paid a tremendous price.
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This blog is dedicated to the defense of the Commons, and as they say, the best defense is a good offense. This weblog, we hope, will be a place where you can learn more about events and activities in communities across the north shore. This may also be a place where you find a community sharing ideas and information with others who care about your interest in and concern for the common good. Over time our goal is to grow this community by expanding the team of contributors. We of course welcome your comments.
But the idea of the Commons also includes, as President Obama reminds us, a commitment to shared responsibility and accountability. While this is a public space, it will be regulated by high standards of content and tone. In subsequent posts we will define these guidelines.
But in this our inaugural post I simply want to celebrate the ideal and the reality of the Commons. As this long cold winter gradually gives way to the warmth of spring, I look forward to cris-crossing the Common, reveling in its open and egalitarian spirit.
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