EXCEPT THAT THE DISRUPTION IS UNIVERSAL THIS TIME:

A new American dream for a new American century (Zachary Karabell, July 26, 2013, Reuters)

[T]he equation of American economic success until the mid-20th century was not that if you worked hard you would have a stable material life. It was that if you worked hard, you could create such a life. The difference is not semantic; it is fundamental, and for Obama and many, many others, it has become blurred. The equation articulated by Obama and likely shared by a significant majority of Americans is that if you work hard, you should receive economic security and see the same for your children. The flip side of that theory is that if you don't gain economic security, something is wrong with the system, and government has a responsibility to provide when that system fails.

The belief that something is a given simply by birthright is never a formula for long-term strength. Yet at some point in the last half of the 20th century, the American dream morphed from the promise that you could realize a comfortable life, to a promise that being American meant you would and should realize that. [...]

The United States, like many affluent nations, has reached a juncture where the model that succeeded is not likely to be the model that will succeed going forward. 19th century agricultural societies gave way to 20th century industrial ones, and 20th century industrial ones are giving way to 21st century service and idea economies. None of that happened without significant pain and disruption. Nor is our transition today without substantial pain for many.

Government can and should be active in providing basic security for those disrupted by these changes. But the contract that has now been broken did not actually serve America well. It served the post-war generation and their children, but it does not serve a United States now embedded in a world where other societies are providing the same potential that the United States did two centuries ago when that was extremely rare.

What's needed is a sense the United States is a place where dreams can be made manifest, not that it is a place where everyone will be safe and secure.

Why?  It's not just that we have the wealth to keep everyone safe and secure, which was the singular achievement of the Second Way, but that we no longer require hard work to create the wealth.  What do we gain as a society if, instead of simply redistributing our effortless wealth, we require you to dig a hole and fill it in in order to share in that affluence?  Is that really where we want our citizenry to direct its time and effort, into cynical boondogglery?

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 27, 2013 11:12 AM
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