I thought I'd post this short essay that I wrote as part of the Vision and Values Conference Course here at GCC. The "theme" of the conference was "Progressive Surge and Conservative Crackup", and we were asked to respond to the question: To what extent will the Progressive surge affect your future economically, politically, and in other ways you wish to discuss. Also, consider such issues as: 1.) Will your standard of living be similar to, lesser than, or better than your parents; 2) Will the fall elections give more or less support to the Progressive surge? Include references to specific papers, lectures, and discussions as you are able.
So, here is my essay. Notes refer to papers distributed for the course.
The Center-Stage Question Mark:
What Does the Future Hold?
The Progressive surge will certainly have an impact on the future of the young adults entering into the work/political world. Current events appear to be either utterly trivial or earth-shatteringly significant, with no middle ground. While the economy appears better off than a year ago, it remains to be seen whether the actions taken by the government have brought the country closer to leaving the recession or have simply staved off a much needed correction. Ideals upheld by the Founders, and preserved in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence, are being ignored or outright flouted by elected officials who have sworn to uphold them. A fantastic percentage of the population has little knowledge or understanding of American history or even current events. As we have been told, to make additional use of the well worn phrase, those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. While the future is inherently uncertain, the stage is set for interesting things to happen.
The economic troubles of the past year and a half, and the responses of Presidents Bush and Obama to the issue, are a major source of uncertainty and confusion. The job market gets tighter, and it becomes more difficult for unskilled/first time employees to find and keep jobs. Increasing regulations, such as raising minimum wage levels and increasing unemployment benefits, make hiring new employees risky for firms. Free markets are being traded for interventionist policy and a decidedly hampered economy. Credit expansion and inflationary policy lowers the purchasing power of each monetary unit and contributes, along with the exorbitant national debt, to the potential for the current recession to get worse before the economy fully recovers. Economic uncertainty, enter stage right.
For perhaps the first time in American history, young adults entering the work world might not be assured of a better standard of living than their parents, a notion that has been almost synonymous with the “American Dream” for decades. While it is not definitive that we will be worse off than our elders, the current recession and the Keynesian/interventionist measures being applied to “stimulate” the economy offer fair cause for concern.
The increasing number of government programs, most currently the healthcare overhaul, as well as the skyrocketing national debt, almost guarantees an increase in taxation to fund. Programs like Social Security that our parents and grandparents paid into for years may yet be unavailable to them, let alone exist for Generation Y. Not all of this is the doing of president Obama’s administration; the economic chaos dominoes started falling during the Bush administration, and they were likely placed even before president Bush took office. Bush, like Obama, did react to that crisis with stimulus packages, etc., intended to boost spending, a distinctly Keynesian approach to “repairing” the economy.
The political view for the future looks equally interesting. As Dr. Kengor shows in his paper, Dissecting What Obama Won – and What Bush Lost, it does not appear that the election of a radically liberal president and legislature is a result of a radically liberalizing electorate, but of what Kengor terms a “schizophrenic” (271) electorate that seemed profoundly unaware (or unwilling to see) of just how liberal of a senator they were sending to the Oval Office. As far as the next election goes, it will be interesting to see how voters react to the policy of the first half of Obama’s first term at the polls. Will the “Change” that we’ve been given prompt voters to overhaul the legislative branch in November? Will Obama be revealed to be a single term president come 2012? Or will the voters of this country remain “schizophrenic”?
With legislation such as the now infamous Obamacare bill being signed into law, it seems doubtful that the electorate will allow election day to pass without a changing of the guard in the House and Senate. Today’s Democratic Party appears to have traded political popularity for the passage of a, to say the least, unpopular piece of legislation. Because of that tradeoff, there may still be hope for the schizophrenic voters to come around. Although, with the somewhat startling statistics presented in Dr. Kengor’s paper, that hope may stand on shaky ground.
At a time when government needs to be shrinking, or at the very least not getting any larger, it is expanding. The economy needs to be allowed to correct, poor business decisions permitted to be rectified, and malinvestments to be liquidated. That process is being impeded by stimulus plans, jobs projects, and expansionary policy that may initially appear to help the economy, but will likely have a negative effect over the long run, sowing the seeds of the next crisis. Obamacare, a program unwanted by the majority of Americans, has passed into law despite the wishes of the voters at large. As always, the future is uncertain, and the current “Progressive Surge” gives a major pull to the pessimistic side of that uncertainty. It is possible to be optimistic, but if the voters remain schizophrenic, that optimism is going to become harder and harder to find.
Cookies if you read the whole thing, (somehow the font got screwy in my intro paragraph, and I can't fix it for some reason, sorry. The question is actually there, it's just in black for some reason?? This dread machine hates me, lol. Just highlight the area above the actual essay to see the question) just thought I'd post the most opinionated thing I've been allowed to submit for a grade this semester! :)
Cheers,
Caesia
