Conservatism Today: We offer no whine with your cheese.
I hope you all had as happy of a 4th of July weekend as I did, but according to the Associated Press, you probably didn't: America's Unhappy Birthday
If you feel the same as the people interviewed for this story do, here's some advice. Stop whining! And grow up while you're at it.
They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.
One member's son is serving his second tour in Iraq. Another speaks of a daughter who's lost her job in the mortgage industry and a son in construction whose salary was slashed. Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas.
Notice that none of the people in these paragraphs are talking about anything bad happening in their own lives. Of course not, most people's lives are just fine. There are always some people who are losing jobs and getting salaries cut. It's how a poor economy heals itself, by forcing people out of unproductive jobs and into jobs where they will eventually be more productive and start growing the economy again. And people have been going to war forever,too. Why not be thankful that, thanks to the surge, Iraq is a much safer place to be nowadays. And why not be proud at the service your son is providing to his country?
Because most people would rather whine.
The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue.
Now we see the problem. Instead of taking control of their own lives, these are people who are looking to government to make their life better. My friends, if this is you, you are always going to be unhappy. I know that I will be fine no matter what the economy brings. Please, no rescuing is necessary. Just stay away from me. And stop taking a third of my money in taxes.
"There are so many things you have to do to survive now," said Larue Lawson of Forest Park, Ill. "It used to be just clothes on your back, food on the table and a roof over your head. Now, it's everything.
"I wish it was just simpler."
Lawson, mind you, is all of 16 years old.
Oh, to be young and full of woe again. Who are these people? 16 years old and already defeated by life.
Here's an older woman:
"There is a sense of helplessness everywhere you look. It's like you're stuck in one spot, and you can't do anything about it."
I don't see this anywhere I go. And if I ever felt stuck in one spot, I'd get moving in a real hurry. But it's so much easier to whine, and look to government to save you. Then you get to blame someone else for your failures.
We then get three paragraphs explaining that things are actually just fine right now:
"Objectively things are going real well," said author Gregg Easterbrook, who discusses the disconnect in his book, "The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse."
He ticks off supporting statistics: A relatively low unemployment rate, 5.5 percent in June. (Employers did cut payrolls last month by 62,000 jobs, but consider the 10.1 rate of June 1983 or the 7.8 rate of June 1992.) Declining rates of violent crimes, property crimes and big-city murders. Declining rates of disease. Higher standards of living for the middle class and the working poor. And incomes that, for many, are rising above the rate of inflation.
So why has the pursuit of happiness - a fundamental right, the Declaration of Independence assures us - become such a challenging undertaking?
Then the AP says, "enough of that, let's get back to the whining."
"My God, it's horrible, it really is," he said, adding: "If diesel goes north of five, it will be really difficult at the price we're getting to stay in farming."
This is called reality. Time to make a plan. You're either going to have to raise prices if you can, or else get a job in an industry where you will actually be productive. There's nothing horrible about it. If you are not productive or efficient enough to handle times right now, you were probably a drain on the economy before. Time to find something to do that you're better at.
This one is great:
Stay-at-home-mom Heather Hammack grapples with tough decisions daily about how to spend her family's dwindling income in the face of rising food costs. One day, she priced strawberries at $1.75. The next day, they were $2.28.
"I could cry," she replied when asked how things are.
Things are so bad in America that we're crying about strawberries.
Those "right direction, wrong direction" polls - the latest of which, in June, had only 14 to 17 percent of Americans saying the country is going the right way - show a general level of pessimism that is the worst in almost 30 years. Those feelings, coupled with government corruption scandals, lingering doubts over whether the Iraq war was justified, even memories of the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina, have culminated in an erosion of our customary faith that elected leaders can get us out of a jam.
Again, the fundamental problem with all these whiners is that they are looking to government to fix their lives. That is not what government does. It can't, at least not efficiently. But, more importantly, the purpose of our government is simply to protect our rights to life, liberty, property and stay out of our way while we pursue (and hopefully find) happiness. Sometimes, when we elect a rare leader like Ronald Reagan, government can improve your life, but only by getting out of the way.
Said Arizona retiree Dian Kinsman: "You have no faith in anybody at the top. I don't trust anybody, and I'm really disgusted about it."
Don't be disgusted by it. Embrace it! The less faith you have in "people at the top," the more faith you will have to have in yourself to provide your own solutions in life. What could be better?
At 82, Ruth Townsend has experienced her share of downturns - in her own life and that of the country. She suffered a stroke years ago that left her in a wheelchair, and lives now in an assisted-living facility in Orlando. Townsend recalls World War II and having to ration almost everything: sugar, leather shoes, tires, gas.
"You made do with the little you had because you had to. You shopped in the same stores over and over because you HAD to. We had coupon books and stamps to figure out what we could have," Townsend said. Americans have gotten so used to "things," she said, "that we can't take it when we hit a bad patch."
Yes, some people still remember what it's like to have real bad times. Some of us remember Jimmy Carter. I hate to sound like a cranky old man, but when we have 16-year old kids these days whining about how tough life is, we've become a tad bit pussified as a nation.
The story concludes by explaining why they are covering it to begin with.
Such anxieties have concrete implications - affecting how we spend, how we vote and whether we are willing to take risks. These collective "bad moods" matter because they help steer the country's direction just as the country's direction shapes our mood.
And that is the goal of the AP and other mainstream media outlets. They want you miserable. They want you whining. They want you to feel bad about your life. They want you looking to a government savior, an Obamessiah to tend to your every need.
But we know it isn't true. I'm willing to bet your life isn't like this. I'm willing to bet that you work hard, develop skills to help you thrive in your industry and have fun with loved ones when you get the chance. I bet you're pretty happy. Perhaps you smiled as you read this, because you know I'm right. This is not the America you and I know.
You and I know an America that overcomes any obstacle in its path. We know a citizenry that is self reliant, hard working and generous to those in real need. And that makes us happy.
To the rest of you, cut out the whining and get to work. Government will not make you happy, only you can do that for yourself.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Let me know in the comments, folks. Are you happy and optimistic or whiny and pessimistic?
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