You bet culture matters.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.
• Position: STATE OF THE NATION - American culture and politics

WHEN GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that Israel's economic success was rooted in its culture, he was pilloried. Yet, how is it that the Israelis have developed high-tech industries and an elevated standard of living, while many of the Arab countries awash in oil have failed to achieve either? Culture, politics, and economics are intertwined. To ignore it is to ignore reality.

How much does culture explain the U.S.'s current economic malaise? The debate today concentrates on economics. Conservatives support reduced government spending, repeal of onerous financial regulations, entitlement reform, and a simplified tax code with reduced rates and few loopholes. Liberals want more government spending, higher tax rates on the wealthy, and tighter regulations on business and finance. I am strongly sympathetic to the conservative prescription. Yet, I wonder, will that be enough to bring back the vibrancy of the American economy? Can a culture that emphasizes instant gratification and glamorizes anything-goes behavior avoid being neck-deep in personal and governmental debt? A productive society must have a culture that encourages self-restraint, self-reliance, and delayed gratification. Without such culture, can any tax and spending policy make much of a difference?

The early Americans, as 19th-century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville observed, relied upon themselves and their neighbors. In the rough and tumble world of the early 19th century, the American pioneers built communities and established volunteer associations (fire departments, religious societies, charitable organizations, and schools). People developed habits of individual responsibility, serf-restraint, and social cooperation. Several decades after the American Revolution, the U.S. had the beginnings of a functioning democracy and self-governing society. By contrast, the French Revolution produced terror and Napoleon. Paris continued to rule France, whereas Washington was a far-off distant place with little connection to ordinary Americans. Citizens learned to role themselves, which meant curbs on their appetite for pleasure, serf-aggrandizement, and instant gratification. Families sacrificed for their children. Authority in the home, schools, and religious institutions demanded and received respect. People understood that Thomas Jefferson's pursuit of happiness meant more than the pursuit of pleasure.

This continued into the early and mid 20th century. There were...