Prosperity (long read)

[up148]

I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to “fix” the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”

Never saw American prosperity. Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I’ve ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Now, I’m not attributing Miss Ocasio-Cortez’s words to outright dishonesty. I do think she whole-heartedly believes the words she said to be true. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let’s just say I didn’t have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Let me lay down some universal truths really quick. The United States of America has lifted more people out of abject poverty, spread more freedom and democracy, and has created more innovation in technology and medicine than any other nation in human history. Not only that but our citizenry continually breaks world records with charitable donations, the rags to riches story is not only possible in America but not uncommon, we have the strongest purchasing power on earth, and we encompass 25% of the world’s GDP. The list goes on. However, these universal truths don’t matter. We are told that income inequality is an existential crisis (even though this is not an indicator of prosperity, some of the poorest countries in the world have low-income inequality), we are told that we are oppressed by capitalism (even though it’s brought about more freedom and wealth to the most people than any other system in world history), we are told that the only way we will acquire the benefits of true prosperity is through socialism and centralization of federal power (even though history has proven time and again this only brings tyranny and suffering).

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they’ve never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism. Why? The answer is this, my generation has ONLY seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn’t live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don’t know what it’s like not to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don’t have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it’s spreading like a plague.

With the current political climate giving rise to the misguided idea of a socialist utopia, will we see the light? Or will we have to lose it all to realize that what we have now is true prosperity? Destroying the free market will undo what millions of people have died to achieve.

My generation is becoming the largest voting bloc in the country. We have an opportunity to continue to propel us forward with the gifts capitalism and democracy has given us. The other option is that we can fall into the trap of entitlement and relapse into restrictive socialist destitution. The choice doesn’t seem too hard, does it?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I think - my Initial reaction is - it is a laudable characteristic of this forum that you feel comfortable getting all that out and are now, likely, anticipating and awaiting pertinent replies .

I look forward to those replies . We have some interesting minds , here, most of whom are good company, too.
Murph

[up148]

Just a point of view of a young reporter Murph and an interesting read sent to me. I expect it will solicit some responses. That's what we seem to do here.....throw it against the wall and see what sticks.

BH

[Mitch]

And it's all true. You never hear of anybody drowning trying to escape to Cuba in a leaky boat that wouldn't survive a trip on a local river let alone the Atlantic Ocean. For the most part, the entire world wants what we have, and yet we have a generation of people who think they've been screwed by the system and want to change it for the better. That's a laugh! As stated above, socialism has failed everywhere it's been tried. USSR, Cuba, Communist China, North Korea, Venezuela, etc.Makes my head hurt just thinkin' about it. Even some of the Commie countries like China and Vietnam realize they need to practice some forms of capitalism in order to generate enough wealth to keep the elite in power. I'll leave ya with these thoughts. Prove me wrong.

Liberalism, (socialism), always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent.

Liberals, (socialists) never believe what they're doing is wrong. They only believe they haven't done enough of it to make it work.

When liberalism, (socialism), conflicts with reality, it is reality that must change.

And in the words of Iron Lady Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "Socialism is great until you run out of other peoples' money".

[rogruth]

I'm hoping there are many posts to this topic.
I admit to being rather conservative on most issues.
Bob Turner says he is a liberal.
Many of us never admit to any political leaning because,
IMHO, we might upset someone that cannot accept
any philosophy ( I use the term loosely ) except their own.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Many of us never admit to any political leaning because, IMHO, we might upset someone that cannot accept any philosophy ( I use the term loosely ) except their own.

Sadly, you've really hit upon one of the key issues plaguing this country - we have far too many that cannot accept any philosophy except their own and then assign blame to all others.

Prosperity is an interesting concept. Very personalized depending on who you are, your background, your upbringing, your location, etc.

My great-aunt & uncle spent their lives on the farm and rarely cleared more than $100/month their entire lives and rarely traveled more than a 100 miles...since you had to be home to milk the cows. Depending on who's microscope you look through, you get a different view as to what that means.

We have an economy where a few hundred control the overwhelming majority of the country's finances. We also have a country where ~50% will never be able to afford to retire; they'll never be able to save enough to stop working. We have a country that has bought into carrying debt as a normal condition; debt that will effectively never end. We have a country that has an increasing number of seniors that have to survive on a wing and a prayer, and not much money. We're working now to clear the MiL's house to sell it so she'll be able to finance a move to an apartment that she'll be able to live in and not have the burden of caring for it.

Prosperity depends on how you define it. I've probably been far luckier than most being in the right places at the right times and making the right decisions (not always clear at the time of their making...).

None of this is simple. Maybe stopping the the inability accept any philosophy except their own, and stop blaming to all others is a place to start. There is plenty of blame to spread around in every direction.

[up148]

Incredibly insightful and i agree 100%. There is no "right" answer and impossible to make everyone happy. I've never seen our country so divided on basic beliefs and understandings.....and both parties are playing this up to the max.

[rogruth]

Incredibly insightful and i agree 100%. There is no "right" answer and impossible to make everyone happy. I've never seen our country so divided on basic beliefs and understandings.....and both parties are playing this up to the max.

Hmmm. Once again I agree.
I think I don't really care about the politics of my personal or internet friends but I think I see/read/ hear more fanaticism today then ever in my life.
In my early days of teaching, late 1950s, we were concerned with our country going to war with another country. It seems that today we need to be
concerned with going to war with others in our country. I do hope this never happens.
One part of our country's history that I do NOT want to see
changed in any major way is the Constitution. It appears to me that today is actually little different from when it was written. But today we have
almost instant communication and "we" often speak before we understand.

I was much more able to express myself with music than with words. No, you don't want me to sing this to you.