A baseball team is more likely to win when its members seek the goals of the group before their own. For a nation to be successful, a significant number of citizens must seek the common good above their individual interests.

When citizens believe their country is in peril, they sometimes sacrifice a great deal for its survival, as Americans did during the Second World War. Things fall apart when a shared dream dies.

When elite groups choose to gather riches and power for themselves through corrupt or merely selfish practices, ordinary citizens begin to question the justness and fairness of the system. Communist movements grew in the United States in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, when unemployment resulted in growing poverty and despair.

Communism ceased to be attractive to most Americans during and after the Second World War. Jobs and prosperity returned. Higher education became possible for more Americans through programs for returning GI’s and others that made such education affordable for ordinary citizens. Most believed in the American dream, that if they worked hard and lived decent lives, they would be rewarded with a good life.

Perhaps hope is the most important ingredient of successful baseball teams and nations, the reason their members sacrifice for them.