
How America Became “A City Upon a Hill”: The Rise and Fall of Perry Miller - samclemens
https://www.neh.gov/article/how-america-became-city-upon-hill
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mzs
If you value material such as this

>… The White House has requested that Congress appropriate $33.4 million to
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the orderly closure of the
agency. …

[https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-statement-proposed-
fy-2021-budg...](https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-statement-proposed-
fy-2021-budget)

~~~
rayiner
Closure of the agency, along with the NEA, is long overdue. The arts and
humanities are politically vastly outside the mainstream of American culture.
As a result, there is no practical way for these agencies to operate. If the
government doesn’t carefully oversee how the money is used, you end up with a
government funded platform for academics and artists to peddle fringe views.
There is something deeply wrong about using public money to fund something
that has neither functional utility _nor_ aesthetic value to the majority of
the public. The alternative is even worse. If the government does actively
curate the work funded by these agencies, you end up with propaganda:
[https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/is-
the-n...](https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/is-the-neh-
worth-keeping).

~~~
arcticbull
“Government funded culture” is literally how all of Europe and Canada pays for
their culture. Art tends not be a profit driver, but provides intrinsic social
value and therefore thrives when funded socially. The problem isn't where the
money comes from, there may well be need of a "Chinese wall" setting out how
it's used, but tearing it down isn't the answer.

[1] [https://www.nfb.ca](https://www.nfb.ca)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Canadian_Heritag...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Canadian_Heritage)

~~~
rayiner
> Government funded culture” is literally how all of Europe and Canada pays
> for their culture

America isn’t Europe. For one thing, it’s not nearly as culturally homogenous.
More Americans want their state to leave the union (about 1 in 4 nation wide)
than people in Basque Country want independence from Spain (about 1 in 6). The
French have an idea of what “French culture” is and what’s desirable about it.
Americans have highly divergent views on what is American culture or what’s
desirable about it (or even if anything is desirable about it). In practice,
the NEA and NEH end up funding not “American culture” but “coastal urban
culture.”

Now, I happen to like coastal urban culture. My wife and I take the kids to
the MOMA when we’re in NYC. But a federally funded agency picking sides in an
active and ongoing culture war is wrong. The government shouldn’t be putting a
thumb in the scale when it comes to influencing the evolution of culture. But
that’s exactly what NEA and NEH end up doing in practice. They hand an elite
cultural minority a $300 million a year platform.

~~~
Ohn0
Is it really the governments job to fund culture? I think there are plenty of
folks willing to contribute without the need for tax dollars.

~~~
munk-a
We can't push and both say "You folks should do this fun stuff for free" while
concurrently cutting the social safety nets and, tbh, you get what you pay
for. If all the artists are forced to either peddle for money or have a main
gig for food and shelter then they have less time to devote to art. In our
modern (i.e. not subsistence agrarian) society, we have the excess needed to
fund these things and to allow people to specialize into artistic professions.

Currently there is a lot of comedy out there for free(ish) if it became more
heavily capitalized, and there were constant steep costs to consume comedy,
what would we lose out of society? Nothing super important, the trains would
run, factories wouldn't shut down, but we'd lose a source of expression and
joy that helped up think differently and approach hard questions in life...
Art adds value to all of us and it's so _insanely cheap_ to fund.

~~~
kdudhshdjf
I don't see the reason both can't be done. Historically, prosperous societies
produce more art. We may not be producing as much art in classicly prestigious
formats like paintings, pottery, etc. But one look at the entertainment
industry seems to refute the idea that art needs to be sponsored. I simply
don't see why we give this significance to certain forms of art as if they
fill a societal hole that no other format could. Your example of comedy was
perfect because the manifestation and growth of standup comedy is a good
example of how new arts can come into being without needing some sort of state
sponsored intervention.

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thrower123
The "City on a Hill" conception is quintessentially Yankee, and for the most
part the core of a Yankee identity that doesn't exist organically anymore.
While that Yankee ethos was instrumental in forging America, it's far from the
only contribution, and looking at everything through the Yankee looking glass
misses a great deal.

I think the two most valuable US history books I've read in the past decade
are Albion's Seed and American Nations. Everything makes a great deal more
sense when broken out of the monolithic "American" or bipolar North vs South
narrative.

~~~
giancarlostoro
It's also from the Bible, which is much more likely the origin:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:14](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:14)

> You are the light of the world. A city

> located on a hill can't be hidden.

~~~
everybodyknows
The King James translation:

> Ye are the light of the world. A city

> that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Both translations are in alliterative, enjambed verse. Try reading each aloud,
then consider which was more pleasing to your ear.

~~~
giancarlostoro
I read through several translations, my personal favorite for general readings
is CSB (formerly HCSB). Otherwise I prefer some of the Messianic translations
that are not afraid to admit that some verses are properly lost to the ages,
such as the Camel going through the eye of a needle, in Aramaic the same word
for rope and camel exists, if you say a rich man trying to get into heaven is
much like a rope going through the eye of a needle, immediately I understand
what you're saying, you're saying that they have to lose all the unnecessary
threads just to go through, whereas with a camel I have no idea and could
assume that it would _never_ happen.

There's Aramaic scrolls that are old and translate better than most Greek New
Testament scrolls most mainstream bibles are derived from. KJV has a lot of
the same flaws as modern translations.

And yes, the CSB still has the same flaws, but it's simple to read.

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softwaredoug
Every American should really learn about the post civil war reconstruction
period before making any claims about moral superiority. In my experience most
Americans want to pay attention to just the civil war, and pat ourselves on
the back for ending slavery. It’s far less comfortable to see the rule of law
subverted by southern KKK and militias and northern moral fatigue in the
decades that follow.

Events like the civil war and civil rights movement in US history are notable
as exceptions of the rule of racism or apathy towards racial injustice.

~~~
dntbnmpls
> Every American should really learn about the post civil war reconstruction
> period before making any claims about moral superiority.

Was the pre-civil war period a shining bastion of morality? Pre, post or
during the civil war, you can choose any time period and see unwarranted self-
righteousness. I can't think of any period in US history where we could
genuinely consider ourselves the moral superiors. But you don't get to be the
wealthiest and the most powerful nation on earth by being morally superior.

> It’s far less comfortable to see the rule of law subverted by southern KKK
> and militias and northern moral fatigue in the decades that follow.

"Northern moral fatigue". That's cute. You make it sound like the north was
any less racist.

~~~
softwaredoug
It definitely wasn’t, which is exactly my point. But neither was the post
civil war period.

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_bxg1
> The irony of history—one that Miller might well have appreciated—is that in
> promoting Winthrop’s sermon, he caused it to become the key statement of all
> that he most feared and lamented. In the years to come, Winthrop’s “city
> upon a hill” sermon would become “the shining city on a hill” of President
> Reagan: a celebration of individual freedom, material prosperity, and
> American power

This is the problem with nationalistic rhetoric. Because it is about a place,
and not about any real principle in particular, it easily spirals out of
control (with vigor!) in whichever random (or maliciously designed) direction.
It's like gasoline without a container: some of it may make it into the engine
and move things forward, but it's just as likely to light everything on fire.

~~~
microcolonel
> _This is the problem with nationalistic rhetoric. Because it is about a
> place, and not about any real principle in particular, it easily spirals out
> of control (with vigor!) in whichever random (or maliciously designed)
> direction._

A nation is not merely a place, and America is a nation based on principles;
mere loyalty to the abstract of the territory is not recognizably American.

~~~
_bxg1
America is a word, and a place, and a group of people, and a government. All
of these are fallible. Everything beyond these is subjective and constantly in
flux.

"American Values" have meant countless different things to different people at
different times. Like Miller you can try to wrap them up in a coherent story,
but it will eventually reveal itself to be at best incomplete, at worst
delusional.

If you want to advocate for values then advocate for values, not Americana.
The concept of Americana does not exist in any concrete reality, and can (and
will) be co-opted by whichever politician, or corporation, or individual, who
can use it for their own ends. By stoking the flames one is only sharpening a
weapon that can be used by anybody, for anything.

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50ckpuppet
Simple, distinguish between art and "grant abuse."

