Dream Deferred

Not a universal dream? - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
CABIN FEVER

Dallas has had a bizarre ice storm across the last 3 days -- we’ve been dealing with downed trees and power outages. Today is Sunday and we’re blessed with a 38 degree heat wave. There are still plenty of ice patches to avoid but the major streets are driveable. The whole city has come alive at 3PM, as we discover it’s OK to come back outdoors. Now that I’ve made it out, I’ll tackle today’s topic -- the middle class American Dream.

PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY

There is a popular myth about the free market economy -- probably as old as Adam Smith. It certainly was entrenched by the time Hoover’s 1928 campaign promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage”.. The notion is very appealing -- it says that anyone with energy, gumption and a little dose of the protestant work ethic should be able to achieve a middle class lifestyle. It’s the American Dream -- we've had it dangled before us by parents, teachers, Madison Avenue or cable TV. We even have whole government infrastructures in place (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) to ensure that hard-working people everywhere can have a cozy bungalow with a picket fence.

No matter if you’re low on the economic totem pole -- hard work and perseverance will carry you forward to your manifest, material happiness. You might not achieve a mansion but you’ll have a humble home and maybe a car. This idea stuck with me for so many years until I looked around and realized how far off the mark it is. It makes sweeping assumptions about the human condition -- assumptions that are mistaken. The resounding optimism of it (most frequently voiced by affluent conservatives and uber-politically correct liberals) should be tempered by the reality at hand.

I have a concept of people who in virtually any society (socialist, capitalist) would be renting a property or otherwise living in in quarters that are not owned personally. I'll dub it the "Mobile" class..

MOBILE CLASS

o Artists and artisans -- People who make jewelry or paint watercolors as an avocation. This may be unrealistic to a bean counter, but there are people who pour heart and soul into something that doesn't pay a livable wage.
o Financially unfortunate people who have made unlucky investments or lost their money.
o People who don’t want to work. There are people who truly do not conform to a work or office ethic. They're happy to live sparingly and not work for "the man". Labor cannot be forced.
o People of earnest good intentions who are learning disabled -- They aren’t lazy but have diminished capacities.
o Mentally ill / seriously disabled / incarcerated -- These people will have a dependency on overseers and care givers -- They will live in institutions or relatives' homes. Some mentally ill may even be homeless.

There are also hermits and iconoclasts -- people who want to live simply, live in communes or live off the land. This might include religious sects that are separatist or minimalist. They may not even be enough a part of the mainstream to rent a residence, but neither do they pursue the American Way.

The above categories include people who might have trouble scraping by even with food stamps and housing subsidies. The boomers among us were steeped in a consumer society offering material rewards. I'm in that subset, which frequently sees success in life as something that is monetized and certifiable with stuff. But there are so many other people who by choice or happenstance do not measure their lives that way. Young millennials are one group which by choice sees another passage to fulfillment -- a passage that embraces relationships and time spent with travels or self-discovery.

Universal, middle class capitalism is a myth. Much like extreme feminism and communism (blog topics for another day), the middle class myth arises out of misconceptions about who we actually are. I have a friend who falls somewhat into the inactive, indolent category. I thought I was doing him a favor by telling him about job training, Pocket Quicken, and cheap tuition. The irritation in his eyes suggested that my neo-Republican pearls of wisdom were not welcome. My ideas fell onto the floor -- like shattered pieces of home-finance platitudes. My friend doesn’t mind living in a down-scale area, driving an old car and accepting money from his relatives. I was attempting to fix what wasn’t broken.

And there we have it -- a whole band of people who don’t want the "American Dream". Maybe everybody’s dreams aren’t concentric. Whatever the case may be, there will always be a broad category of people for whom Hoover’s 1928 promise remains unfulfilled, even unsought. And for so many of them, it’s not a big deal, it just is how it is.

© 2013 blogSpotter