The First Freedoms and America's Culture of Innovation

The Constitutional Foundations of the Aspirational Society

By (author) Narain D. Batra

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 October 2013

Length of book:

255 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442225886

This is a book about the dynamics of the aspirational society. It explores the boundaries of permissible thought--deviations and transgressions that create constant innovations. When confronted with a problem, an innovative mind struggles and brings forth something distinctive--new ideas, new inventions, and new programs based on unconventional approaches to solve the problem. But this can be done only if the culture creates large breathing spaces by leaving people alone, not as a matter of state generosity but as something fundamental in being an American. Consequently, the Constitutional mandate of “Congress shall make no law…” has encouraged fearless speech, unrestrained thought, and endless experimentation leading to newer developments in science, technology, the arts, and not least socio-political relations. Most of all, the First Freedoms liberate the mind from irrational fears and encourage an environment of divergent thinking, non-conformity, and resistance to a collective mindset. The First Freedoms encourage Americans to be iconoclastic, to be creatively crazy, to be impure, thus, enabling them to mix and re-mix ideas to design new technologies and cultural forms and platforms, anything from experimental social relations and big data explorations to electing our first black president.
Narain Batra makes a fascinating case that the First Amendment -- in particular, its protection of free speech -- has been a linchpin of America's entrepreneurial spirit. Free speech is a requirement, not just a good idea, for any culture that wants to participate fully in the 21st Century economy.