Up in smoke… “The American Dream”
The Pied Piper of Washington
Growing up in Morrisville in the ‘50s, there was a general belief that hard work and integrity were a path to financial security and maybe even wealth. Yes, there were leghold traps along the way — alcoholism, mental illness, trauma, early death from smoking or unsafe working conditions — but the work ethic that prevailed in our small community drove hope.
My stepfather worked as a ski instructor in Stowe on weekends, so we could all ski for free, and he had several other jobs as he worked his way towards financial stability. When he decided to build a house for his family, he signed on as an unpaid rough carpenter with the local builder both to lower the cost and to learn a new trade. In 1948, we moved into our new three-bedroom house. In his brief life (as with many a smoker, his life was shortened), he worked in a dry-cleaning plant, drove school buses, and finally got a job managing a small Union Carbide records storage facility with five employees. By then, our family of five was secure if not wealthy. The downtown was alive with retail shops and services and the streets buzzed with shoppers. Even in poverty, the possibility of earning a wage that lifted one out of poverty sustained hope. Undistracted by the Internet, social media, online shopping, and artificial intelligence, communities were cohesive — people came together in clubs, shopped locally, dined together, celebrated, and prayed and sang in four local white churches.
Today, all of those shops are closed, the churches are almost empty, and few people walk the streets.
This post-war time of hope came after two distinct periods of unregulated business growth and the Great Depression. Both political parties had come together to agree that regulation and taxation were a necessary part of securing the common good. And the rule of law was understood to be fundamental to a democratic society. Unlike the last few decades, there was a growing consensus that all Americans should pay taxes to ensure human dignity and to fund a basic human safety net. During the Eisenhower era, the highest marginal tax rate on wealth was 90%, 92% in 1953, and 91% from 1954 through 1963 and the economy thrived. Government used these revenues to make investments in power systems, roads, bridges, and telecommunications to help create unprecedented economic growth for people up and down the income scale, and unions grew in numbers, strength and impact.
Today, we live in a wirelessly connected world, haunted, ironically, by loneliness. Live interactions diminish and our new technologies only mimic human contact. Meanwhile, the expanding influence of billionaire plutocrats working behind their president continues to erode the core elements of democracy. In this new world, where humans are deprived of hope, relegated to peon status, and lose the right to choose their own leaders, it feels as if we’re entering Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and the American dream is dying in front of us.
To the many Americans who have seen their economic status in free-fall — with consumer inflation, stagnant wages, and skyrocketing healthcare, housing, and daycare costs — Trump and his team promised a better world with their “Make America Great Again” slogan. But MAGA, in fact, said nothing specific about improving the daily lives of ordinary Americans. We are waking up to the idea that “MAGA” is, instead, about seizing control of democracy and consolidating all power in Trump’s presidency and the plutocrats behind him.
Seeing the President wearing a hat that says “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING,” it’s evident we’re being led by a delusional, ego-crazed old man in serious mental decline, managed by an elite cadre of billionaires who believe that democracy doesn’t work to their advantage. Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, these MAGA warriors lead the disillusioned into a cave where whatever rights they had to change the course of their own lives are gone. And the American Dream goes dark.
A key tool in this effort is corruption… I recently asked a federal judge for their thoughts about lobbying and they explained the following: Legislative “education” occurs when a legislator or committee asks an expert to come in and help them better understand the pros and cons of the legislation they’re considering; “lobbying” is when a paid industry advocate makes their case on behalf of their employer; “corruption” is when that lobbyist adds, “We’re having a major convention in Hawaii on that topic next month and we’d love for you and your family to come out at our expense to learn more.”
The pharmaceutical industry spent $388,209,822 last year on lobbying, using 1,814 lobbyists, over half of whom were former government employees. That is corruption. There’s a difference between being educated as legislation is being developed and rampant corruption.
What will it take to fight back and return hope? We’ll need a cohesive, organized, strategic opposition to restore the belief that we can again make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of our families and communities. The good news is that if the MAGA warriors don’t wipe out the constitutional right of Americans to choose our own leaders, as they’ve tried to in Texas, there are enough of us to “throw the bastards out.” Trump’s polls continue their decline. If a popular-vote election occurred today, Trump and his cohorts would be voted out of office. This is why we must continue the fight to restore the popular vote over increasingly corrupt electoral college manipulations.
Just as vital, the Democratic opposition must stop niggling and make a clear commitment to the well-being of American workers, their families, and their communities… a commitment to “The American Dream” of self-reliance for the many and a safety net for those who fall through the cracks. Democrats can’t have it both ways, catering to the jet-set elites who fund them in their drive to diminish taxation and regulation, while at the same time nattering on about “democratic ideals.” You’re either in or you’re out, and playing the middle is a recipe for another defeat.
If our democracy survives the MAGA onslaught, we Americans have a chance at reestablishing a rules-based society in which the wellbeing of its citizens is as important as the success of the entrepreneurs who drive the economy that supports them. Monopolism and excessive wealth concentration don’t encourage hope, entrepreneurism, healthy competition, a sound middle class, shared values and dialogue, and a commitment to the common good do.
Democratic hopefuls will need to rally behind a clear message that reanimates “The American Dream” … that Americans can again have a say in their future wellbeing. Without such hope, the work equilibrium that enriches both the worker and the employer dies in darkness. According to Forbes Magazine, the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio at the Low-Wage 100 companies widened by 12.9% percent over the study period, from 560-to-1 in 2019 to 632-to-1 in 2024. Remember when Ben Cohen (Ben and Jerry’s) said that the salary ratio should not exceed 5-1? According to the AFL-CIO, in 2024, CEO pay at S&P 500 companies increased 7% from the previous year—to an average of $18.9 million in total compensation. Meanwhile, the median U.S. worker’s median income was just $49,500, less than .0027% of that amount. A solid middle class is fundamental to a functioning democracy. This does not bode well for the American Dream or for our democracy.
- Bill Schubart