Time Essay: Louder!

THE United States was founded on a complaint. It was, as the framers of the Declaration of Independence were at pains to point out, a reasonable complaint, and one that took time to ripen: "All experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses . . ." That complaint got action. In fact, in an adversary proceeding that is the essence of democracy, every election poses a complaint and offers a remedy of sorts. This process of criticism is supposed to hone down, and largely has, those principles or procedures or institutions that have proved structurally sound, like towers that withstand the tempest, but need the remorseless shaping that criticism alone can provide.

Americans are, of course, still as vociferous as ever in complaining about their government; the whole antiwar protest movement is an example of that tendency. In recent years, their complaints about the private sector of the economy have received a considerable boost from the rise of consumerism in the U.S. Consumer Crusader Ralph Nader has successfully taken on big targets—the auto companies, food industry, etc.—that have long seemed impervious to the complaints of individuals. The institution of the ombudsman, long familiar in Europe, has begun to crop up in the U.S. to represent the interests of beleaguered citizens in contention with government bureaucracy. In many U.S. cities, radio and TV stations have set up special sections to deal with audience complaints about everything from landlords to late Social Security checks.

But the very fact that the common complainer feels the need for a champion is a demonstration that he feels ineffectual as an individual. When he feels like griping, the average American faces an adversary that the framers of the Constitution did not envision. It is the burgeoning mass society, a creature with a remorseless, faceless, self-declared efficiency that intimidates many Americans and renders them silent when they should be talking louder. Too many people still doubt that complaining will do any good. Those ultimately responsible for this state of affairs seem baffling and remote. Is anybody listening when an individual—as distinct from a powerful, publicity-seeking group like Nader's—seeks to air his grievances?

Department stores, city governments and auto companies all have complaint bureaus, but they are too often designed to blunt the complainer's anger, calm him down and send him away with a vague sense that he has made himself heard. In the vast distribution system, redress is lost in the ever-receding levels of responsibility. The salesgirl shrugs and says: "I just work here." A car owner takes his new-model, newly purchased car back to his dealer to complain that, say, the trunk lid no longer latches shut when slammed down. The dealer cannot fix it; it is a manufacturing defect. Is it worth the bother of writing to the Detroit manufacturer, which may or may not give satisfaction? Too often, the car owner curses, slams the lid eight times for every time it latches, and resigns himself.