I had a chance to watch quite a bit of one of PBS's series American Experience: The Presidents on Franklin D. Roosevelt. Not only did it give me a better insight into the man (and his wife and co-theorist, Eleanore Roosevelt), it also deepened my understanding of the social and political climate of the post-crash/pre-war age. Although the American Experience has always been marked by unprecedented opportunities for oppressed peoples, unrestrained free-market capitalism had sliced the population into a wealthy class, a small entrepreneurial class, and an under-class of poor farmers and workers. For all intents and purposes, there was no 'middle class.'
What does that really mean, after all, that the US had no 'middle class'? It meant that many foundational concepts of the 'American Dream' such as home ownership, travel, vacations, luxury items, higher education and leisure time were essentially beyond the reach of the vast majority of citizens. The Roosevelts' huge innovation that they introduced through the 'New Deal' consisted in a series of publicly-sponsored 'safety nets' to give the general populace some insulation from catastrophic events. For the first time in history, the majority of a population could begin to afford some of the benefits that only the upper classes had enjoyed until that time.
Since then, the sacrosanct 'American standard of living' has survived largely as a result of the public promotion of the common good: the minimum wage and occupational safety and health, unemployment insurance, medical and retirement benefits, child welfare and student aid, etc. The most vulnerable of our people (the young, the aged, the unemployed and low-income workers) have been given a reasonable shot at survival. Perhaps we member of the middle class have taken for granted how much our own standard of living depends on the continued functioning of these safety nets.
In one brief expression, I can say that the existence of a middle class in the 21st Century is completely dependent on the public promotion of the common good. Yet, right now, I'm watching the middle class lurch from disappointment to disappointment as that safety net unravels under the guidance of people who seem more concerned for their own wealth than for the common good. You and I are being bombarded with high-sounding slogans about government spending and taxation that are being used to justify the dismantling of the New Deal.
The Savings and Loan Crisis that begin in the US in the 1980's resulted in the largest redistribution of wealth (upward) in the history of the world. The current economic crisis (centered in the housing and mortgage industries) is continuing the trend. The care of our weakest citizens (the poor, the unemployed, the young, the aged, the infirm) is eroding quickly. The theorists are having their way, as the gap quickly widens between the rich and the poor — a gap that used to be filled by what is now a rapidly-shrinking middle class.
What does this have to do with living a balanced life? As 'success' for the majority of us gets defined downwards and the requirements for attaining this 'success' get redefined upwards, each one of us has to cope with increasing stress and anxiety. You have to work longer and harder to achieve less. If you consider 'balance' to consist of meeting your needs (as defined in Maslow's hierarchy) and still having uncommitted resources available for investment in attaining at least some of your wants, you can see what's happening: everything gets scaled down. You have to be satisfied with getting fewer of your needs met, which prevents you from attaining your higher goals, and consequently, you have fewer resources available to move forward.
This country is still a democracy. You still have a chance to stem the self-inflicted bleeding that's weakening and threatening the very life of the middle class. You can recognize the fact that the best way to promote your own enlightened self-interest is to promote the common good actively and effectively. To paraphrase one of Jesus' sayings, 'Whatever you're doing to the least of your brethren, you're doing to yourself!'
H. Les Brown, MA, CFCC
Copyright © 2008 H. Les Brown
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