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Within this framework of assumptions, however, there is still ample room for a degree of objectivity. And when I say "objectivity," I of course mean numbers. Yes, for the first time in human history, someone has managed to put all those wasted years of mathematics endured in high school to honest-to-goodness practical use. With the assistance of the very finest computers that the year 1986 has to offer, I have laid out a scientific equation to measure exactly how much of a role love plays in American Society.

First, let's establish our variables.

Arguably, of course, love is what holds any society together. People come into this world ready to love their families as (essentially) a matter of wiring, and quickly learn to adopt friends and pets and mentors into their hearts as children. A healthy person will build on those relationships throughout his or her lifetime, adding friends and intimate partners as one's ability to trust and reciprocate affection on different levels becomes more sophisticated. Depending upon the community we live in, we may gain a sense of identity from it, and accept some responsibility for the happiness and welfare of its members. This is, however, a subjective phenomenon that depends on many social conditions that are less common in these days of large cities, commuting, highrises, and anonymous neighbours. It also comes with conditions. We are as capable of love as ever, but we live and love in relatively small groups that accept their place within the larger social setting as a matter of necessity and in, ideally, order to further collective projects for the public good. In an intimate or familial sense, we love our children, our parents, our best friends, and our partners. We even love our pets, sometimes more dearly than any one of the above. We most frequently experience these flavours of love; a sort that is created by attachment, and belonging.

But I think we can exclude that version of "love." I suspect that what we're really talking about is the idealized and inclusive, "love thy neighbour as thyself" kind of love that implies an enlightened sense of compassion and tolerance for one's fellow human beings. For the sake of simplicity, we can consider it the selfless love of agape. It is a general flavour of love -- one that does not require intimacy or reciprocity or possession or batteries. No other form of love that I am aware of (and believe me when I say that I am most familiar with the different forms of loooove) can be spread across an entire society. It is, nevertheless, one of the hardest varieties of love to achieve, because it calls for trust, compassion, humility, and an open mind.

To what extent does a selfless love for one's fellow human beings influence the social fabric of America? I think the reason people differ in their responses to this problem is that there are a great many counteracting negative variables to contend with. These make it hard to believe that love can amount to much of a role at all. We could, in the interests of brevity, call this side of our equation evil. Let's explore it in some detail before feeding this data into the computer.

America is, in many respects, a land of freedom and opportunity, but it is also a place of striking inequality, hardship, and injustice. Often, America's proudest virtues are diminished by its shameful vices. The famous American love of freedom is betrayed by an ongoing love affair with brutally oppressive but business-friendly regimes, while her legendary notion of "opportunity" is offset by the plain reality that anyone can grow up to be the president someday, as long as they also grow up to be a rich, white man. The American public sphere has always been aggressively libertarian in nature, stressing the autonomy of the individual. But this often merely boils down to a priviledged sense of entitlement, or: "stay out of my business, especially you guys in the goverment who want all my money." Small government and low taxes, traditionally preferred by those wealthy enough to lobby the government or run for office, have become the neo-liberal catchphrase of the 21st Century. An almost spiritual deference is now placed in the ability of the free market to regulate itself and provide services more efficiently. Make no mistake, taxpayers -- low taxes and minimal regulation serve only to benefit wealthy transnational corporations and their shareholders, with little if any local investment or job creation given back to communities in return. Nevertheless, these notions have wide support, as few things are as constitionally entrenched as the sanctity of private property in America. The competitive nature of market forces, coupled with a philosophy of individual liberty and responsibility, effectively pits person against person in a battle for a limited number of opportunities and happy endings. Consequently, the economic disparity in America is rising. Approximately 20 percent of its richest citizens own an outrageous 80 percent of its overall wealth. America is, at once, the world's richest country, and yet is also home to more people living in poverty than any other developed nation. For instance, fully one quarter of American children live in poverty. There is, however, little incentive for society's winners to share what they have with its losers. America has no socialized medicine, meaning that 40 million uninsured people have no access to medical care. Millions of people endure uncertainty, hunger and misery every day, yet have few avenues for escape. This is because many of America's schools and community programs are decaying with neglect, and because social assistance is invariably first to go on the chopping block when the time comes to trim some spending from the budget.

Paradoxically, American culture embodies a gross materialism that goes unmatched across most other societies. There is a mass fascination with consumption and a level of excess that many find unimaginable, if not ostentatious or merely repugnant. This creates a renewed social tension as have-nots strive to obtain the same goods and lifestyles as flaunted by the haves. SUVs, cell phones, cosmetic surgery, sneakers, clothes, drugs, youth and sex are all marketed, consumed, bought and sold in various forms as symbols of wealth and standing. America comprises just 5 percent of the world's population, but consumes a quarter of the world resources available in any given year, and generates a level of waste that, equally, can only be considered world class. This consumption and waste, fed by debt, crime, and flamboyant wealth, contribute to a meanness of life that is devoid of advancement or fulfillment. It is, not surprisingly, hard for people to genuinely love, care about, or support one another when there are monstrous class and ideological differences (be they religious, political, or cultural) separating vast populations of Americans. Furthermore, in a land that (at least formally) guarantees the equality of opporunity (if not the equality of outcome), not all people have the same gifts to contribute. Many who have worked hard for their success rightly or wrongly feel that they owe nothing to an uncaring world. But many would need help if they are to succeed. Some people begin their lives in hardship -- others, in contrast, enjoy considerable advantages. Some people are basically selfish, and unwilling to help their fellow Americans regardless of how fortune has blessed them. Still others, when given the opportunity, will choose to exploit power in any form. The fruit of such disparity is suffering. Each day, Americans rob, exploit, fuck, deceive, buy, sicken, cheat, ignore, batter, extort, bully, corrupt, betray, fatten, starve, downsize, and kill one another for some gain. Some lurk in alleys, and others work behind desks. All the same, they awake the next day, and start using one another again. So, disheartened, some of us might ask: where in all of this misery is there a sense of responsibility to one's fellow human beings? Where in this society does the skeptical observer see a culture based in any way upon love?

The society with the highest rate of capital punishment and the highest rate of imprisonment in any western nation also has the highest crime rates. America boasts the most murders of all industrialized nations. And then there's corporate crime to contend with, too: corporate executives find the courage in numbers to do things to employees and cities and the environment that they would never conceive of doing in their own homes. Sadly, America loads more hatred and violence into each and every daily Unhappy Meal™ than ever before. America is the home of road rage, the Ku Klux Klan, and mass shootings in schools and fast food restaurants across the nation. American officials teach the tools of terrorism, torture, and oppression to future fanatics friendly to its short-term anti-communist, pro-business agendas in the infamous School of the Americas. And speaking about terrorism -- well, America even grows its own. Murderous anti-abortion activists bomb family planning centres, and right-wing paramilitary organizations spread truck bombs, pipe bombs and anthrax-laden parcels like jolly, evil Johnny Appleseeds. Meanwhile, racism and bigotry are still monstrously pervasive. Just look at Eminem; he's like one of those super concentrated nutrient bars that are crammed to the limits with apples, granola, nuts and vitamins, except he does it with hate. And he's a millionaire. Yet he's just a product of Hollywood, mass media, and advertising like the rest of us. We are constantly bombarded with messages about what we want and what we should believe. An entire multi-billion dollar industry has grown and flourished simply by convincing us that our most selfish impulses should be immediately satisfied, whatever the cost.

BUT: Just before all this data-collecting becomes a rant, we can leave the topic of evil behind, and now begin accumulating a different perspective on love in American society. There are (fortunately) a large number of redeeming examples that do point to the capacity for altruistic love in American society today. Indeed, we need look no farther than the horrific tragedy that unfolded on the morning of September 11, 2001 as an excellent counter-example which illustrates how majestically and unselfishly people can and will come together to help one another in a time of great sorrow, loss, and need. In times of crisis, many Americans demonstrate a heart-warming capacity for charity and compassion -- donating blood until hospitals are overwhelmed, donating money and goods until swamped relief organizations literally have to begin turning their benefactors away. But even outside of emergency relief efforts, many good and compassionate citizens selflessly give until it hurts each and every day. There are citizens who volunteer at soup kitchens, or work to improve the lives of the elderly, disabled, disadvantaged, or illiterate. When an election comes around, a helpful soul might take the time to drive some older folks out to the polls. Some people regularly contribute a few non-perishable groceries to food banks. There are young people who dedicate years of their lives to humanitarian organizations such as the peace corps. Heck, there are strange people who make it their business to randomly feed their own money into parking meters, just so that people they've never met can avoid parking tickets. The choice still makes society a rather nice thing compared to what it might be. Indeed, it is fortunate for America that there are millions of people who are compelled to follow their own beliefs (spiritual, humanist, or otherwise) and contribute to the improvement of the society around them in a meaningful and positive way. These efforts needn't be heroic, or at great expense, or even require large amounts of time. After all, the "right thing to do" is often subjective and transitory; but it needn't be more complicated than making an unselfish choice at a time of indecision. This might be as simple as helping a stranger who has collapsed on the street -- however he's dressed -- or letting someone with a small child have your seat on the bus. What is important to note is that people exist who are willing to do something -- any small thing -- that benefits others, out of a fundamental respect and regard for the welfare of one's fellow human beings.

Many of the most poignant American struggles were in reality the culmination of widespread efforts rooted in compassion, tolerance and egalitarianism, against policies practices fueled by greed, prejudice, ignorance and hate. The American abolitionists endured contempt and persecution as they fought to bring an end to the monstrous cruelty of slavery. One hundred years later, even lynch squads could not deter the principled activists of the civil rights movement from attempting to bring legal equality to African-Americans, who had been long denied the ability to vote or attend the same schools or even use the same washrooms as their white counterparts. The emergence of trade unions was only possible because thousands of American workers had the courage to oppose the exploitative greed of their employers, facing beatings, arrest, firing and deportation in order to win fair wages, eight-hour work days, safe, regulated working conditions, and an end to child labour. In the present context, NGOs including environmental, anti-sweatshop, fair trade and human rights movements have swept across the American political landscape to energize new activists who wage new campaigns to bring social justice to both America and a world heavily influenced by the consequences of American consumption and investment. For three hundred years, furthermore, America has been home to some of the most moving and influential writers, thinkers, artists, and musicians to be found anywhere. America brings us outspoken political figures such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, and Ralph Nader who, for whatever one thinks of their personal politics, are tireless advocates for consumer awareness, for social justice, and for human rights. All of these figures and movements speak of the potential within American society to unite out of compassion for strangers and in the pursuit of just causes.

So, having assessed the good and evil (or love and hate) to be found in American society, all we need to do now is add up our variables. In the table below, I've set up the equation and done the math. Let's see what the results are:

   all [hatred + greed + mistrust + prejudice + exploitation + apathy in America]
+ all [fellowship + forgiveness + compassion + tolerance + charity + justice]