Tag: American Dream

In Pursuit of the Pursuit of Happiness

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People say that one of the unique components of the American experiment was the explicit enumeration of “the pursuit of happiness” in the founding document of the country.  And that’s true but I think the more important situation is that to a much greater degree than elsewhere it actually was captured.  I’d say that the capture of happiness is the much discussed “American Dream.”

And I’ll go further; I’ll say that without the happiness there isn’t anything worth discussing about America.  The essence of this country is that it delivered on the dream.  People who came here and put in the effort found actual happiness.  And what was that happiness?  In the last hundred and fifty years it was middle class status which means the wherewithal to raise a family above the poverty line.  The definition of poverty has shifted over the centuries.  Of late it means being able to afford shelter, food, clothes, education, communication, entertainment and transportation costs for a family of four.  And nowadays that’s quite a bit.

But the general idea is that you make enough money to bring up your kids to be able to walk among equals in the town you live in.  And that is the definition of happiness for normal human beings.  And except for economic catastrophes like the Great Depression that expectation was within reach of even penniless immigrants who arrived here without even a command of the English language.  But that situation is no longer the case.  The younger generation are of the opinion that a middle-class lifestyle for them is an impossibility.  And I contend that is why Donald Trump has twice been elected president.

It’s not as if Gen Z likes his looks or rhetoric.  He’s the ultimate example of the man to whom they’d say, “Okay boomer.”  His views on women and foreigners are considered uncouth by the young.  But he’s promised to fix the economy so that they can afford to be grown-ups and move out of their parents’ basements.  So, the real question is; can he do it?

Boy, I wish I knew the answer to this one.  Sure, I want the answer to be yes.  But it’s a lot easier to move an industrial base to a new country when labor costs are effectively zero than it is to rebuild it in a place where labor costs and environmental regulations are huge negatives.  It may be that he won’t get enough time to rebuild it.  But that is the bet.  Donald Trump says he can restore the American Dream; restore the chance for a middle-class lifestyle for the majority of Americans.

I find it an amazing thing.  A man that everyone claims is just a flim-flam man and an opportunist has recognized that our present disastrous state is the result of the failure of the most fundamental characteristic of America; happiness.  And diagnosed its remedy as restoring the means of a middle-class lifestyle to the common man.  I think a case could be made that he’s the only one in politics who isn’t an opportunist.

Atilla’s Court

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As I sit here putting pen to page, or whatever the paperless equivalent is now called, I am pleased to be reaching out across this huge continent, and even larger planet to the few like-minded individuals that have found their way here over the last few years.  I have a few readers in East Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and even a South American from time to time.  And of course, I have readers in other parts of North America; several in Canada and even one or two in Mexico.  But the bulk of my readers and almost all of my commenters live in America.  And that’s because I am an American.  What I write about is my thoughts and feelings as I live through the dismantling of the American dream.

Because that’s what it is.  To fight World War II the Federal Government and Corporate America formed an alliance to marshal the resources needed to defeat Germany and Japan.  But more importantly this alliance made a deal with the American people.  In exchange for them sending all of their sons into the meat grinder they promised to supercharge the economy and build a shiny new America full of interstate highways, technological wonders, college degrees and most importantly jobs.  And something else was implied.  It was understood that this alliance of government and business had as its highest priority the welfare of the American people.  Sure, we might have a Marshall Plan for Europe and charity for the third world but when push came to shove their main focus was making sure blue-collar workers in the industrial heartland could afford to put a roof over the heads of their children and food on the table.

And for about twenty-five years it seemed that indeed, the people in Washington made it their business to oversee an economy that did just that.  But somewhere in the 1970s that began to change.  Maybe it was the Cold War or the oil crisis but from that point on it seemed like the lives and livelihood of the middle and working classes became expendable chips in the high stakes games that the rich and the powerful played in Washington.  That deal they made in 1941 has expired.  The IOUs they wrote are now worthless.

And it’s worse than that.  Now they’re making believe they’ve never even heard of us. “Americans?  You must mean the “Old Americans.”  Those racist, transphobes that clutter up the landscape that we want to fill up with “New Americans.”  Haven’t you people died off yet.  We’ve given you enough opioids and scorn to do the job.  What are you waiting for?”

But we’re still here.  And we still remember the deal they made.  And the funny thing is we know that someday they’ll remember that they need us to fight their wars or solve their technical problems or cure their diseases.  But will we still be here?  Because eventually people who aren’t wanted leave.  And they go where they are needed.  Maybe it’ll be Eastern Europe or South America or East Asia or somewhere completely unexpected.  But the way things are going it probably won’t be the United States.  This country has retreated into a contracting pessimism.  We must use less energy, less food, less money, less space, less life.  We will have fewer children, fewer opportunities and fewer reasons to want to live.

Now maybe, possibly we’ll get the upper hand again and hold our leaders in government and industry accountable.  That would be an outcome, much to be desired.  But the record of the last couple of decades doesn’t give me much hope of that.  Those in charge are in almost complete control.  Sure, there are places like Florida that are still putting up a good fight and have been taking back local control from the oligarchs.  I wish them all the success they can obtain.  Maybe they can duplicate that success in an expanding circle of red states that can demand a federalist solution to the Democrat monopoly on federal power that we are living through.  And maybe those red states can assume responsibility for those IOUs that the feds reneged on.  But once again. I’m not holding my breath.

So that’s where it stands.  I feel like one of the Greek renegades who went to work for Atilla the Hun back in 450 A.D. when the historian Priscus was negotiating for the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II to avoid the sack of the Danube provinces.  The renegade still remembers the myth of the Roman Empire he was taught as a boy; a land of justice and prosperity.  But then the reality of crushing taxes, omnipresent incompetent bureaucrats and hypocritical application of the law courts against the common man are remembered and reveal the myth to be a pathetic joke.

Of course, Rome lasted, nominally, for five hundred years after it ceased to be a republic.  Maybe there is no escape from the Global American Empire.  Well, that’s something to chronicle too.  And that’s what I do in my small way.  And also, I give people a cyber space to come to when they want to make a point or share an insight.  So, I’ll maintain my outpost and report what I see and think.  You do your part and tell me what you see and think too.  And spread the word if you know any folks who would fit in here.