I was speaking to former Helping Hands director Cheri Alt the other day. She was discussing the issue of how the middle class is perceived to be shrinking. Alt described how the perception of the middle class most people have appears almost unobtainable to many poor. The effort to reach the next level is overwhelming. This has helped to create a strong perception that America is somehow out of whack and needs some kind of serious adjustment.
First, this made me wonder. What is "middle class?"
It used to be that middle class meant that you had a reliable roof over your head, a decent automobile, and the capability to feed your family and pay your bills. After this, you usually had a little left over every month to save for retirement and a vacation. Sure bills caused stress, but more often than not the family did just fine. Until recently, this was not just middle class, but "the American Dream." This middle class still exists in America. The problem lies in what people perceive as "success." We have revised it upward. Now we don't see ourselves as successful unless we can afford all the latest electronics, a house much larger than necessary, new automobiles, and still not worry about bills. The gap between expectations and reality causes anxiety to many. We stress about what we do not have rather than being thankful for the gifts God gave us. I make the same mistake myself very often.
The media does not help. Its views of middle class have been skewed for a long time. Shows like Roseanne, Mama's Family, and Sanford and Son were meant to represent people who in some way were poor. However all had homes and vehicles. Fred Sanford was even a small business owner. Bill Cosby represented middle class, although to many of us in West Virginia, he certainly appeared rich. The Democrats play upon this anxiety when they announce that the United States has a poor economy.
An expectation of rewards without effort, experience, or proof of competency has also helped create the perception that the economy and society itself has problems. The burgeoning sense of entitlement is the sad result of the 1990s liberal experiment with scholastic self-esteem. Children learned that they were all considered excellent regardless of whether they earned it in any way. The same awards went to everyone regardless of whether the individual had actually done something worthwhile. Effort was given the same praise as competency. Students find a rude awakening when they hit college or real life. The shock comes when professors or employers expect actual results, an end rarely demanded before unless the youngster played in athletics or band.
The liberals demand equality of outcome and they offer government as the solution. Achieve too effectively and watch them cut you down to size. If people get left behind it becomes an indication that something is inherently wrong. No other country in history offers opportunity like the United States in the 21st century, if only people will stand up and seize their chances through hard work from the first they they hit adulthood. We just need to remember as individuals that nothing worthwhile comes without struggle and few lessons are remembered better than those learned because of failure. We also need to thank God for the good things in our lives. We may work hard towards certain goals, but American values do not include a guarantee.
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Isn't it amazing that even though the Left has dominated higher education for at least the past three decades, the Republican Party continues to turn out better candidates for leadership in presidential elections? Perhaps the universities of practical business (Romney), military style character (John McCain), the school of hard knocks (Mike Huckabee), etc. do a better job creating leaders than academia. It could also reflect the fact that conservatives constantly must defend their principles and beliefs against established authorities while in school. This forces conservatives to think about what they believe in and why. The result is a much more reasonable and capable leader, as opposed to a guy who throws out inane causal linkages and expects them to be believed without question.
When listening to liberal Democrats, always question the assumptions they make in their arguments. It is here, at the foundation, that their logic always fails. They rely on ideas such as collective guilt, conservative or private sector greed as a primary motivating factor, conservative lack of insight as a truth, the idea that individuals pursuing their own success are somehow immoral, the concept that global warming is an acknowledged truth. If you accept their assumptions, their logic is fine and their conclusions are valid. It is their assumptions that defy reality. Take for example the economy. Obama insists we need significant change because the economy is poor. The economy is still growing! Furthermore the Fed says it will pick up by fall. Get your time machine and bring someone in from the 1970s or 1930s and ask them if 2% growth with low interest rates and inflation are bad. That looks like heaven to those folks.
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A hundred years ago, hucksters sold products called patent medicines. These drugs promised to cure what ailed you, but never informed the customer what composed them. Obama's campaign works on a similar premise. It promises to make you feel better while refusing to offer any substance. Turns out these medicines did make people feel better in the short term because they were chock full of morphine. People get convinced to take the medicines even when they are not ill because the salesmen were extremely slick. A little exercise and better diet would have gone a lot farther than patent medicines.
Republicans offer the reasonable path to a better tomorrow because individuals are expected to work towards their own benefit. Obama offers the patent medicine of government solutions without any expectation of individuals. That's not how this country was founded and built into greatness.
