I picked up the above image and quote off a friend's fb page and shared it on mine. I think it was originally lifted from a post on fb by a group called Being Liberal.
After seeing the post a friend of mine commented, "I wonder what the deficit was in 1954?" And I had to agree, it's not a bad question to raise. After all, as the U.S. was emerging from WWII with enormous debt we had an industrial and manufacturing economy without equal. We had people working, a communist threat to keep our weapons programs humming, and huge public projects in the works like the interstate highway system and rebuilding and expanding our airports and schools.
The economics of the 50's and 60's, while not recession proof, were certainly of a far different complexion than what we see today. Although Americans could be found digging shelters in fear of nuclear attack, the American Dream was really starting to come together for many as the suburbs began their sprawl, men went to work every day, kids were in attendance at well regarded public schools, and moms were home with the babies. Americans felt they had accomplished much and were headed in the right direction: Up.
Today it seems as if the whole scenario has fallen apart in the third act. For much of the audience, what was a G rated romantic comedy-drama has deteriorated into a dark and frightening R+ rated violent drama of despair. What that has produced is a growing audience that simply says, "I'm not going in that theater. This is a multiplex. I can afford a ticket and I'm going into the romantic comedy-drama (fantasy) I missed the first time." And it's become obvious to many that there are not enough seats available for that show. No matinee pricing. No kids under 5 get in free. It's expensive but, they'll tell you, definitely worth it. Too bad the seating is so expensive and limited, but that's just how it is.
I'm not that concerned with the difference in economies between 1954 and 2012, although the difference is critical. I'm more concerned about the change in the personality of our society in that period of time. And it hasn't even taken all of that. From my perspective it starts around the turn of the millennium although the wheels were set in motion a few years before that. From that point on, however, we see a stark change from a society moving together to one that's moving apart: Public schools decimated by publicly supported private options; jobs offering a lifetime of employment and benefits being decimated by export overseas; a volcano of wealth among the financial sector and a rising tsunami of just getting by among what used to be referred to as the working class; a constant rage against affordable healthcare; serious consideration being given the gutting of Social Security. In part it's a rising tide of entitlement confronted by a seawall of resentment, two vastly different perspectives on life and society. We are now a society of haves, have nots, and used to haves.
What bothers me the most is that we have stopped asking: How can we keep everyone on the team? We have stopped believing it's essential to keep everyone on the team. From the perspective of many it has become just too damn expensive to keep paying for the entire squad.We've even started to point fingers at those who should go.
The great experiment that is democracy cannot survive this fragmentation. Freedom from want and need and fear and hunger is the foundation of social, political, and religious freedom. There are many changes that need to occur to secure our economic well-being and the final health of this nation. The journey, however, can only be won by our all rowing together. Nobody can be allowed to drag their paddle. But, then again, no one gets out to ride in their speedboat.
Without unity, without a common belief in the well-being of all, without a commitment to achieve a larger success as a society as a whole, there will be no domestic peace. There will be no dream if it becomes simply unattainable for most.
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