reilly m gray

An older white man, who attends my church, left multiple copies of a document on the table where the adult Sunday School meets that outlines how an older white man may feel in America today.  Because of his beliefs, the author of this outline of statements believes that others see him as a racist, fascist, homophobe, traitor to the working class, infidel, member of the gun lobby, useless old man, reactionary, xenophobe, right-wing extremist, anti-socialist,  and militant.  In it, he pleads for others to help him come to terms with the new him, because he is just not sure who he is anymore because of all the abrupt and new-found changes in his life and thinking.  He doesn’t know what happened.

What happened is that the rules have changed!  The American Dream use to mean that a white male would easily get a job and follow the rules and be either equally or more than well-off then his parents in supporting his family.  But then, accelerated technological change, globalism, gender and minority equality and immigration changed the playing field.  Good paying entry-level jobs are either few and far between or no longer available.   White men feel betrayed by the failure of the promise of the American Dream that they grew up believing in.  And they are angry!

Some angry white men tend to blame feminists, gender equality, minorities, immigrants and LGBT people for their current situation (which partly explains their allegiance to Trumpism’s racism and misogyny), rather than the plutocracy that has overtaken our democracy.  The plutocracy is now enjoying massive tax cuts, while labor unions have been dismantled eliminating the power of collective bargaining.

A similar situation happened after the stock market crash in 1929.  Unemployed men became angry and Franklin Delano Roosevelt responded with the New Deal in 1932.  This legislation worked from the bottom up by implementing substantial government spending to put people back to work.  Conversely, Donald Trump is responding with a trickle down method that has proven not work over the last 30 years.  Trickle down only enriches the few while impoverishing everyone else.

We need legislators who support repairing infrastructure, public education, job training, and affordable healthcare for all, not those who support massive tax cuts that result in stock buybacks that only enrich CEOs and stockholders.  We need a fair and honest government for all.  Focus your righteous anger in the right direction rather than at the people who are in the same boat with you.

I grew up in a world that rewarded hard work with a middle class lifestyle.  And when a hard worker became disabled or elderly or when a family lost their main source of income due to an untimely death, help was provided.  This experience created a sense of trust that government policy and regulation would benefit all.  It didn’t matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats were in control, it seemed that a compromise that benefited all could be found.  Business leaders were statesmen that had a deep sense of stewardship for our country.  They upheld their part of the unwritten social contract with American workers, the workers who gave their effort and precious time to the benefit of the company.  I feel this sense of trust created voter apathy.  Why vote when things are good?

The days of benevolent stewardship by business leaders, the wealthy and corporations is long gone.  Their focus now is to lobby government for policies and regulation that favor their interests at the expense of working people including reducing or eliminating livable wages, healthcare and pensions.  They collectively spend billions of dollars on lobbyist, lawyers and experts to steer governmental policies and regulations to satisfy their self-interest.  Now instead of voter apathy, eligible voters have a sense of powerlessness.  What good is their single vote against all that power and wealth?

GOOD NEWS! THERE IS POWER IN NUMBERS!  And you are one of those numbers!  One hundred million eligible voters did not vote in the last presidential election!  Only 58% exercised their right to vote.  Seventy-five percent of American families make less than $100,000 a year, while 47% make less than $50,000 a year and nearly a quarter earn less than $25,000 a year.  The point is that hard-working Americans make up the vast majority of eligible voters making us the most powerful electoral force in the United States.  Let’s Vote!  Let’s elect public servants who represent our basic needs and support policy and regulations that provide fair and honest government.  Get involved!  Vote pro-labor!

According to Wikipedia.org, Confirmation Bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Confirmation bias occurs when you see or hear something that you believe is already true, even though, it may not be at all true.

People who are struggling economically in our changing economy may blame illegal immigrants and minorities for their predicament, rather than automation, globalization, entry-level jobs that require a higher skill set and the dismantling of labor unions.

People who feel that taxes and healthcare costs are too high may also blame immigrants, minorities, welfare recipients and big government, rather than big tax cuts to the wealthy that don’t trickle down but are instead used for stock buybacks that only make the rich richer, big pharma that outlandishly overcharges for life saving drugs to only enrich themselves and the fact the government has been overtaken by the wealthy class who does not effectively represent the majority of Americans.

The struggling working class has come to believe that big government is the cause of their problems, when in fact deregulation has caused much of the unfairness that currently exists in our economy.  Deregulated lending and mortgages resulted in countless foreclosures for hard-working families and the 2008 financial crisis (and remember it was hardworking Americans who bailed out the bankers who got rich causing the crisis and who went unpunished).  The deregulation of the airlines resulted in the loss of thousands of good paying jobs that included healthcare and pensions.  Deregulated campaign finance has allowed the ultra-wealthy to have unfair influence in our elections and in passing policies that favor the rich at the expense of the majority.  These are just a few examples of the problems caused by deregulation.

We need a bigger, truly representative government that is fair for all Americans and that supports the common good.  We need campaign finance reform and finance regulation.  We all need to invest in infrastructure, education and healthcare.  We need to stop the few that are robbing the country of its resources that should be used for the common good of our democracy.  Blaming people who are in the same boat as us rather than the captain who is steering the boat and keeping all the spoils for himself.

Be aware of your confirmation bias and fact check what you see or hear even if it agrees with your pre-existing beliefs.

 

When most people hear the term social breakdown, they probably think about the poor, the homeless or a biker gang, but this is not the end of the story.

Emile Durkheim defines anomie (for me social breakdown) as a “…condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals resulting in the breakdown of social bonds between the individual and the community.”  It arises from a “…mismatch between personal or group standards and the wider social standards, or lack of social ethics,”  resulting in “…moral deregulation and an absence of legitimate aspirations.”  It’s not just an “…absence of norms, because “…a society with too much rigidity and too little individual discretion can also produce anomie (quotes on ‘anomie’ from Wikipedia. org).”  So, a healthy society seems to be a delicate balance between the individual (individuals of all classes) and the common good.

It may seem easy for some to identify the lack of social, moral and ethical standards to be present in other classes but not their own.  But, it is important  to look at our own morality and the legitimacy of our own aspirations.  Greed and selfishness can be deeply hidden in self-achievement.  Durkheim writes that “desire without limit can never be fulfilled, it only becomes more intense.”  This results in grasping without concern for others.  It results in subprime mortgages that cause hard-working people to lose their homes while bankers get richer and drug companies charging astronomical prices for a drug needed to save a child’s life just to increase their profits.  It’s accepting tax breaks that take money from programs that promote the common good like healthcare, education and infrastructure.

Social breakdown is not just present in the lower classes, but in all classes.  We need to work together and to realize what is truly important.  We need to break out of our class bubbles and participate in the common good.  Robert Reich states that without the common good we have no society.  We are all responsible for the common good.

In Coming Apart (Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, New York 2012, 2013), Charles Murray suggests that a new lower class has developed over the last 50 years due to a decline in marriage, industriousness, honesty and religiosity, and an increase in isolates (those disconnected from community life). In several of my blogs, I have talked about fair wages for a fair days work and how wages have stagnated for the working class (real income for the bottom 80% rose by 41% while the top 20% rose by 88% between 1979 and 2013).  I want to make sure that this hard-working class of people is not unfairly grouped with the new lower class discussed by Murray.  Also, this situation is outside the influence of the dream hoarders from the upper middle class that I wrote about in “Fairness Forgotten?”

Single motherhood, unemployment and child poverty contribute to the problems faced by the new lower class.  There are currently 10 million single mothers in the United States.    There are 9 million unemployed adults of which 373 thousand  are not looking for work.  There are 13.2 million children living in poverty, that’s about 1 in 5 children.  Just to be clear, there are economically successful single mothers, however, children raised by single parents are more likely to be poorer, experience behavior problems, not graduate high school nor attend college than their two-parent counterparts.  If nothing is done this predicament will be self-perpetuating.

I think trying to convince adults that they should marry, be more honest, industrious and religious would fail because of ingrained beliefs and established habits and class norms.  However, I believe that caring for all children through outstanding public educations and well-funded and staffed after school programs would help meet the unmet needs of these children.  In addition,  local churches and athletic associations and scouting groups could provide the community life that may be missing for some of these children.  There have always been children who were raised in less than perfect homes, but, often, the community acted as an automatic safety net.  Why can’t it again?  Also, fathers need to know how crucial their involvement is in raising physically and emotionally healthy children.

Murray talks about a government provided basic income for all Americans ages 21 and older by cashing out all income transfer programs like social security and welfare.  Murray is a self-professed Libertarian and I don’t know where this idea falls politically.  But if it helps the children, I’m for it!

It is a real shame that we are allowing information from biased news sources to unnecessarily divide us.  What is really sad is that this division has come between good friends and even family members!  So here is a list of news sources that use propaganda, misleading, inaccurate and fabricated information that include nonsense damaging to public discourse from the left, the middle and the right.

The Left:  PATRIBOTICS, PALMER REPORT, OCCUPY DEMOCRATS, BIPARTISAN REPORT, DAVID WOLFE and FORWARD PROGRESSIVES

The Middle:  NATIONAL INQUIRER, NATURAL NEWS and WORLD TRUTH TV

The Right: INFO WARS, THE BLAZE, RED STATE, BREITBART NEWS, NEWSMAX, DAILY CALLER, CT CONSERVATIVE TRIBUNE, DAILY WIRE  and FOX NEWS.

 

The following news sources use selective or incomplete stories, unfair persuasion and unfair interpretations of the news.

The Left:  ALTERNET, DAILY KOS, SECOND NEXUS, BUZZFEED NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC and THE HUFFINGTON POST

The Right:  DAILY MAIL, NEW YORK POST, DRUDGE REPORT, OAN (ONE AMERICA NEWS NETWORK) and THE FEDERALIST.

 

The following news sources provide pure news without a slant.

AP, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AFP, ABC NEWS, NBC NEWS, CBS NEWS, NPR, BBC, PBS, and THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

Other sources with a slight slant include,

The New York Times  and The Washington Post on the Left and The Wall Street Journal and Time Magazine on the Right.

Please know the source of your news, it is critical!  Stay in the GREEN!  For further information go to MediaBiasChart.com

 

In Dream Hoarders:  How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, And What to Do About It ( Brookings Institution Press 2017), Richard V. Reeves tells us that between 1979 and 2013 real income for the bottom 80% of American earners rose by only 41% while the top 20% rose by an astounding 88%.

The author contends that the upper middle class is unaware of the detriment that they are causing.  In fact, they tend to blame the top 1% for our collective economic ills.  Their focus on appearance, achievement and affluence keeps them from seeing the entire picture.  Reeves writes that exclusionary zoning, college legacy policies and internships acquired through family connections, give upper middle class children an unfair advantage to better K-12 education, choice college entry and intern opportunities not based on merit or real ability.

There have been attempts to outlaw these unfair advantages, but they have gone unchanged.  The upper middle class has cut themselves off from the bottom 80% believing they only have themselves to thank for their accomplishments.  By isolating themselves, they seem to have lost empathy for average Americans and when they go to the polls, they vote to protect their own interests and not for what is good for America.  They are squashing upper mobility for the bottom 80% and keeping it for themselves through unfair laws and policies.  They have forgotten fairness.

Honor and respect is earned through consistent honorable and respectable behavior.  Honor involves honesty, fairness and integrity in one’s beliefs and actions.  It requires, being truthful, treating others with the utmost honor and respect, honoring your debts, taking personal responsiblity for your actions, and being of service to others.

It is not okay to lie, name call, defame, cheat and be disrespectful.  IT IS NOT OKAY!  As members of the greatest democratic society in the world and of all times, it is our responsiblity to act with the honor and respect necessary to maintain the high ideals required by American democracy.  This needs to be demonstrated from all, especially from the top down.

Honesty, honor and respect were taught me at an early age.  When I was around six or seven years old, I was helping my family with household chores and found some coins on the floor.  These  coins would have purchased a king’s ransom of penny candy at the corner store.  But instead of pocketing the coins, I showed them to my Dad.  He said thanks for showing him the coins that I found and as a reward for my honesty I could keep them.  I was honored for my honesty which resulted in respect for myself and for honesty in general.

Another memorable opportunity for practicing honor occurred when I was around nine years old.  My Grandmother loved gladiolus flowers and when we would visit her we would pass a roadside stand that only sold cut gladiolus flowers.  When my parents felt that I was old enough, they allowed me to go to the stand with the correct amount of money by myself while they stayed in the car.  The roadside stand was unmanned and the purchase was based on the honor system.  The customer picked out the bouquet they liked best and then put the money in a cigar box along with the money from previous customers.  So, I picked the bouquet I thought my Grandmother would like best and I put the money in the cigar box to join the money already there.  As I closed the cigar box and returned to the car I felt a great sense of pride and self-respect that I was trusted to be honest and honorable even when no one was watching.

Honor and respect require adhering to social norms (unwritten ethical behavior) that uphold the common good.  It is essential to our democracy that our leaders demonstrate honor and respect.  It is vitally important to remember this when we vote.

In The Common Good (2018) Robert B. Reich writes that the people of the United States are focused less on “…the common good” and more “…on self-aggrandizement.”  He says that “…the idea of the ‘common good’ was once widely understood and accepted in America.  After all, the United States Constitution was designed for ‘We the people’ seeking to ‘promote the general wealth….”  Unfortunately, “…the common good is no longer a fashionable idea.”

Reich states that “the Common Good consists of our shared values about what we owe one another as citizens who are bound together in the same society – the norms we voluntarily abide by, and the ideals we seek to achieve, …keeping the common good in mind is a moral attitude.  If there is no common good, there is no society.”

Reich continues “…we must agree on basic principles – such as how we deal with our disagreements, the importance of our democratic institutions, our obligations toward the laws, our respect for the truth – if we’re to participate in the same society.”

Sadly, according to Reich, the first to break the unwritten rules that exploits the common good for personal gain is rewarded.  This has now resulted in the attitudes of “…whatever it takes to win in politics, …rig the economy or to …maximize profits” at the expense of the common good as being somehow acceptable.

In Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct (2002) P.M. Forni writes that “As we pull out all the stops in our frenzy of achievement, we often disregard the norms of civility …we become too busy, too goal-directed.”

The common good is lost in the mindset of self-aggrandizement, personal achievement and over-the-top consumption.  The common good becomes a seeming drag to those who are totally focused on their personal goals.  However, they forget that our country, our society, was built on the common good.  Their fortunes were built on the foundations built by the members of the common good.  We need to treat one another with civility and respect no matter our station in life.  A focus on the common good is essential to the survival of our society.  How can we make it fashionable again?

Some of the top one percent (those earning $400,000 or more per year) seem to believe that only they are deserving.  They believe that government regulation and policies should favor them and that anyone who has not achieved their level of success is undeserving because they haven’t worked hard enough or are simply just lazy.

I am certain that the top one percent has worked very, very hard and put in countless hours to achieve their success and that should be rewarded.  But should they be rewarded at the expense of the remaining 99% made up of the middle and working classes and the poor?

All hard work should provide a livable wage!

I wonder if the top one percent is grateful for their ability, opportunity and support from both family and the nation?  I know I am grateful for all that helped me to move from being a tip-earning food service worker, to a working class union-skilled-craftsman to an advanced degree teaching professional.  I am thankful for my natural ability, a supportive, stable working class family of origin, and a loving and patient spouse who supported me both financially and emotionally during my last career change that reduced by my income by 50% while I attended college part-time for 8 years.  And, I am thankful for my nation and state as my career change began at a subsidized community college and then continued on to two state universities.  Another thing I am grateful for is fortuitous timing (a little luck) and the teachers’ union as I was easily able to procure a teaching position shortly after graduating with my Masters’ Degree in teaching that included a fair starting salary with fair annual raises, pension, healthcare and an opportunity to earn tenure.  Even so, I’m still nowhere near the one percent, but am very happy and honored to be in the middle, helping special needs children.

At one time, our nation rewarded hard work.  However, many low-wage jobs that are essential to our national well-being are undervalued today.  Some of those jobs include childcare, elderly care, care for those who are disabled, food service and prep, office cleaners and domestics and customer service workers.  As a special education teacher for high school students with autism, I depend on para-professionals to keep my students safe and to help them acquire the skills they need to live at their individual highest level of independence.  These caring, dedicated, necessary, highly trained para-professionals are truly undervalued and are not paid a livable wage even though many have some college or college degrees.  I am not sure how to change these circumstances, but if government regulation and policies can favor the top one percent, it can also favor undervalued, deserving, hard-working Americans.

Remember, our true greatness as a country can only be measured by the quality of life experienced by all our citizens, not just the few.  All are deserving!  And those who HAVE, should be grateful and thankful for the support they may have taken for granted.