The American Tight Rope

It is the most commonly accepted, and least spoken aspect of life in the United States. Things aren't what they used to be. You hear it all the time from your parents and their parents, and as we all go to our various jobs, we KNOW it.

It's bred cynicism into us. We were taught that if you work hard and are reliable, your job is secure. If you stay at the same job, someday you'll be able to retire with a pension. If you're a good employee, you'll be rewarded.

That's not true any more, and it hasn't been for a long time. A fabulous series of articles was written that documents just how perilous times are, and how we got there. It's definitely worth the read.

Jobs are more tenuous now more than ever. Where I work, I've lived through four rounds of layoffs. It's the dreaded scheduled meeting on your calendar that no one else knows about. It's the moment your scan card no longer allows you into the building. It's the shame of having somehow 'failed', when you'd done all your parents taught you to do.

You worked the extra hours. You were the reliable one, and always went above and beyond. You always gave 110%, and made your family play second fiddle to the demands of the job, trying to insure that they were provided for. This was for you and your children's futures.

The problem is, the company you worked for didn't get the memo. Cuts were based by department, automation, out-sourcing, or how long you were with the company. Companies today use any number of factors for layoffs. Very rarely do they use merit.

The truth is, no one is safe in their job anymore. Being a good worker can no more protect you from being laid off than having straight teeth could. And once you are without income, the safety nets that used to be there for you aren't anymore. The retraining is harder to get in. The unemployment benefits don't last as long. Welfare, a thing so many are ashamed to need but must, is *very* short term, and unfortunately the retraining isn't. The scholarships and grants your children might have had access to for aid with ever-rising college tuition is drying up quickly.

Take a look at FDR's famous "Economic Bill of Rights". I happen to agree with them. Read through, and tell me if you see ANY of them being supported by the current Republican party, and give me a decent reason why they shouldn't be.

These are indeed perilous times for the American employee, and they shouldn't be. Yes, I'm well aware that life isn't fair. But this is no longer about fairness. This is about what is right. Regulations were put in place to keep the average citizen from being abused and taken advantage by those with means, and right now, very few of those protections are left in place.

Power corrupts. Turn on the news if you don't believe me. Democracy was founded as a means for everyone to be afforded the same freedoms and the same protections against abuse. It was also founded with the belief that the same opportunities should be available to everyone, not just those born into the right families.

The American Dream used to be that if you worked hard enough, were smart and diligent enough, that you can be anything you wanted to be. Isn't it about time we had that dream again?

“The Economic Bill of Rights”

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.