MARCH 1, 2016
ONLY A MIRAGE
Another political season is here. Blaring accusations and putdowns spoken by candidates are producing headaches across the nation. Claims are made without a detailed description of supporting evidence. Acts are proposed without a discussion of the likely consequences of such actions. Promises are made without any talk of how to make them come true. No matter who is elected the likelihood is small that any significant changes will actually happen in the years following an election.
In the age of radio and television it is only entertainment — all about distraction. Don't ask. Don't tell. Just go to sleep — just disappear. Judging from voter turnout in recent decades many citizens have done exactly that. One may wonder what causes voter apathy. Perhaps changing economic conditions in our country have something to do with it. When satisfying basic needs is a challenge, electoral politics may be off one's personal radar screen.
When I was a child first reading our United States' Declaration of Independence, I recall asking my father about the phrase "all men are created equal" which appears in that document. I was puzzled perhaps by the fact that all people do not appear to be equal in the world around us. My father said that the intended meaning was that we are all equal before the law and that each of us should have an equal opportunity to achieve everything that our talents might allow. That was enough to satisfy my curiosity then — more than sixty years ago.
America as the land of opportunity still rings true for perhaps as many as one out of every five adults who are between 35 and 65 years old today in the USA. For the rest in that age group available opportunities may seem less promising than many had expected earlier in their lives. For workers in the generation immediately behind them grabbing one's share of equal opportunity must appear especially challenging.
For those between age 23 and age 34 with a college education the oldest began entering the work force in 2005, three years before the start of the great financial crisis of 2008. In the last ten years life has not been particularly kind to many in this younger generation. Many college graduates have high balances of student debt. Many higher paid manufacturing and technical jobs have been shipped out to foreign countries. Government budgets are tight and public service jobs less plentiful. The work force of part-time and temporary workers has become a favored source of employees in large corporations. Many newly created jobs are in service sectors that offer lower pay. Very few workers look forward to long term employment with only one or two employers in their working years ahead.
In the early primary elections of this year it is telling that up to eighty-five percent of voters age 34 or under chose to vote for the candidates outside of the mainstream, Donald Trump for the Republicans and Bernie Sanders for the Democrats.
Could it be that equal opportunity in America has become only a mirage?
Are the young saying this:
Enough is enough. Stop stealing our lives! Give us equal opportunity.
Is a new party needed — not Democrats or Republicans — to accomplish this goal?
Perhaps the powers that be should begin to wonder.
