A quick belated thank you: I just returned home from a busy day with the family, complete with Super Bowl festivities, and decided to jump on here to read a bit and see if I had got any more responses to this. I'm humbled to see that it was rescued, hit the rec list, and resulted in a number of very interesting/informative comments. I apologize for not being around to chat with you all, as I honestly expected little when I threw it on here this morning. Please know that I sincerely appreciate the feedback and participation.
I've heard it a thousand times. At least. The American Dream amounts to an opportunity to succeed. I've heard the President say it: "If you work hard and do the right thing, you will have...". You know the rest. Of course, the President also says this dream is dying or, at the very least, deteriorating quite rapidly. We regularly hear the Republican response to this, over whispered murmurs of communism and socialism, that the government can not help one achieve this dream. Rather, one must "Pick himself up by his bootstraps". You know, if you aren't too lazy or feeling too entitled then the American Dream is waiting for you and the government has no place in helping you attain it.
Most here understand the ridiculous nature of this meme. However, it is sometimes difficult to find a story to disprove it. I've heard decent people repeat the same talking points about how folks can't find work because they're lazy. If people only tried harder, they wouldn't need progressive policies in the government to help. I've been fortunate to become knowledgeable enough to rebut these claims and explain how our growing income inequality makes moving in the progressive direction not only desirable but critical for the future economic and social health of this nation. Unfortunately, I've also had a front row seat to what the death of the American Dream would look like and felt how close to the precipice we've crept. Thus, I've returned to Kos to write a single diary through which I hope to share my perspective.
You'll understand my hesitance to diary or even comment often when you read the direction I hope my career takes. Political neutrality is particularly important for a person in my field. However, providing a glimpse into the heart of America's youth and their prospects for gainful employment is, I have decided, even more important.
I was raised in the country, with values that are espoused by the majority of Americans but that are held particularly dear in rural areas. Work hard. Pray hard. Be kind. Love your family. The underlying moral was always that your neighbors, God, and your country would help you along the way as long as you did right by them and worked your ass off. To a significant extent, this is the very real American Dream as it was communicated to my generation and, most likely, yours. It is what motivated kids to work hard in school and behave well, or well enough, at home. It is both a moral and social foundation to build your life upon.
This type of ethic is what has pushed me throughout life. It is what motivated the nightly study sessions that led to the success in grade school, the high GPA in high school, and the subsequent scholarship to attend a quality private college my family couldn't have otherwise afforded. Once there, it was these morals that pushed me to take leadership positions in campus organizations, continue my community service work, and study religiously to earn that 3.8 and magna cum laude honors. It was that American ethic that pulled me into public service once Anatomy and Physiology killed my medical school dreams, towards a local government management career where I could also help people. After all, I had been told my entire life that working hard and assisting others was the way to achieve success; that, if to no one else, the American Dream was achievable to those who went all in and pulled hardest on those bootstraps.
So I kept pulling. I pulled my bootstraps to graduate school, studying full time and doing professional level planning and research for two years. I pulled my bootstraps through not one or two, but three internships with local governments in three different states, each with progressively complex responsibilities. I pulled my bootstraps to graduation and a Masters in Public Administration degree, along with more honors: A 3.9 GPA, induction into prestigious honor societies, and all the other nonsense I never cared much about. I had carried my bootstraps to the highest educational level in my field for a practicing professional, with the help of supportive middle-class parents and a few federal loans.
Where others had chosen to party, I had studied. Where others had gotten too tired or bored to continue, I had pushed on. Where others chose to enjoy their summer, I chose another unpaid internship. Where my parents had been the first in their families to earn degrees after years of difficulty, pulling themselves out of poverty by their bootstraps, I had gone even further. After all this effort and after closely following the American Dream blueprint that had been shared with me and so many others, I had made it. I had a supportive family, a professional degree, a deep desire to help people in the public sector, and a resume dwarfing most other recent MPA graduates. I was ready to work to help make my country a better place.
That was a year ago. I'm still unemployed. I've contacted nearly every local government in the state and have connections in state government. They love my resume but haven't the money to hire any staff. Rather, they're cutting staff and sending administrators with years of experience packing, only to end up competing with folks like me for the rare openings. I have close friends who graduated near the top of their classes at prestigious law schools and are over a hundred thousand dollars in debt. They're waiting tables. I have a dear friend who attended the same MPA program I did, a very respected top 20 program, and finished in three semesters. She's a brilliant young woman who could help any non-profit or federal government entity with her skills. She's a bartender because there isn't any other work available. These are the people who pulled their bootstraps the hardest. Others pulled hard enough to get a bachelors degree. They have even less hope of finding a decent job in the current economy. Some worked hard to graduate high school and hoped that, like in previous generations, that would be enough to ensure a decent wage, solid benefits, and a slice of the Dream. No matter how hard they pull at their bootstraps, they are struggling and many are losing hope.
What is supposed to motivate people to work so hard if the reward is stagnant wages, cuts in benefits, and the destruction of workers rights? Why would a bright young person pursue higher education if the result is only a life full of student loan debt and no job in their field? What use is pulling on bootstraps if those who pull the hardest end up with little reward?
I often hear Republicans derisively compare the Presidents policies to those in Europe, arguing that helping people out creates a "culture of dependence". What they need to understand is that continuing on the path they suggest, where the wealthy get wealthier and upward class mobility is non-existent, will lead to something far worse than a people who believe they can depend on their government. Rather, we will have a culture of apathy where no one bothers to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, not because the government is taking care of them but because the government has designed a system where there is simply no benefit in doing so. Fellow Kossacks, when we reach that point where furthering your education, working hard for that promotion, or doing right by others is no longer necessary because our social and political structure has eliminated the benefit in doing it, we will have reached an extremely sad point. We will have reached the death of the American Dream.
If you want to read up on the subject matter, here are a couple articles/excerpts:
NY Times
Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.
Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.
Time
Times are undeniably tough. Reports have placed the unemployment rate for the under-25 group as high as 54%. Many of these unemployed graduates are choosing to go into higher education in an attempt to wait out the job market, while others are going anywhere — and doing anything — for work. Meanwhile, moving back home helps with expenses and paying off student loans.
For now, college graduates are still seeing lower unemployment rates than those without a degree. However, if tuition rates continue to rise and Republican policies continue to destroy the middle class that provides the aggregate demand for needed economic growth, it won't be long until the benefits of a college degree won't outweigh the harm of deep loan debt and lack of employment opportunities. Combine this with the ongoing and accelerating war on all workers, with wages and benefits for nearly all employees at risk of being cut, we could be staring directly at the death of the American Dream. We must keep the far right from driving us off the cliff.
Note: Please don't misconstrue this as a diary for talking myself up or seeking sympathy. I am only using my experience as a reminder that people who have done nothing wrong are suffering very deeply, and as an example that hopefully destroys the logic behind the meme that all we need to do is pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. We also need the strong safety net, economic policies, and proper social ethics that make pulling oneself up possible. I will find a job soon and, depending on the economic and political fortunes of our country, my career will be more or less successful. I am fortunate to have a tight family, a roof over my head, and food on the table until that career begins. I am, however, deeply concerned for all the other Americans who haven't had the opportunities that I've been afforded and, while doing nothing wrong, are suffering and looking for financial help through employment or assistance. It is primarily for these people I write this diary and for them that I share my experience as a sample of what impact our economic struggles are having on my generation.