StickWithANose

A sociology professor of mine once said: ‘Societies are either progressing or are in decline. There is no stasis.’ His point was that the time-consciousness of Western modernity is defined by dynamic transformation in which each moment in time is, in effect, a present-history. Being all reflective on this New Years day, this educative moment from my past came to mind as I sat contemplating the trajectory of contemporary American society over morning coffee. The tentative conclusion I’ve reached thus far, while somewhat dark, is that the pendulum of history is swinging toward decline. I do not believe that this is some inevitable circumstance from which there is no escape. Rather, I believe that there are pressing social issues faced by our society that do not bode well for the immediate future, and it is only by facing up to those issues that we will be able to overcome them. With that in mind, let me offer you two examples of those issues so as to make a case for why I believe that the pendulum has swung the direction it has.

First, I would like to speak to the moral and ethical dimension of American society. Old Mother Reagan was quite fond of evoking imagery from the Sermon on the Mount in his patriotic descriptions of the US. Even though Reagan engaged in his own end-around the legislative branch of government, the image that old Ronnie was conjuring up was that of a moral nation acting from a high ethical foundation of law, justice and equity… It was a national image crafted from the aftermath of WWII. The Nuremberg and Tokyo trials set the standard for human rights and the ethics of ‘just warfare,’ and it cemented the world’s image of the US as being a global leader. As we now enter the second decade of the new century, what has become of the nation that set the standard for law and human rights over 60 years ago?

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters say waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques should be used to gain information from the terrorist who attempted to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% oppose the use of such techniques, and another 12% are not sure.

Men and younger voters are more strongly supportive of the aggressive interrogation techniques than women and those who are older. Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major party favor their use more than Democrats.

Of course, the aggressive interrogation techniques so craftily de-politicized by its technical moniker constitutes the same acts for which we prosecuted German and Japanese officials after WWII. ‘Aggressive interrogation techniques’ refers to torture. That a plurality of Americans now embrace the idea of state-sanctioned torture speaks volume about the trajectory along which we are traveling.

The second piece of evidence that I offer in defense of my thesis also addresses issues of justice and equity but this time of the economic variety. The most notable characteristic of the golden age of American capitalism that emerged in the post-WWII era was not simply the massive amount of wealth creation that took place but the degree to which that wealth was spread throughout the population. It was the era of the middle class, immortalized and romanticized by such cultural productions as Leave It To Beaver. Grounded in the ideology of tax cuts and de-regulation, the modern conservative movement has arisen and achieved dominance over the last 40 years built on a narrative of dismantling the government policies that made the golden age possible, and the results of that ‘Great Moderation’ have been profound.

The vast majority of Americans saw their incomes rise only modestly in those 45 years. Measured in 2006 dollars, the average income of the bottom 90 percent grew from $22,366 in 1961 to $31,642 in 2006. That is a real increase of $9,276 in average income. But it was also after 45 years, longer than the careers of most workers. …

America grew and grew during this era. GDP, adjusted for inflation and increased population, was up 227 percent. But wages and fringe benefits did not grow with the economy. For most workers, they fell. Wages peaked way back in 1972-1973, were on a mostly flat trajectory for more than two decades, rose briefly in the late 1990s, and then fell sharply in the new century. … Millions are out of work, and the jobs they once held are … not coming back. And even if the Great Recession is coming to an end, we face years of jobs growing more slowly than the working-age population, which could radically transform America’s culture, work ethic, and sense of progress.

In 2006 families worked on average about 900 more hours than families did in the 1960s and early 1970s. That is a roughly 45 percent increase in hours worked… For many, the reality is that two jobs produce the same or a smaller after-tax income than just one job did three and four decades ago. …

And at the top? Now, that’s a different story. The average income for the top 400 taxpayers rose over the 45 years from $13.7 million to $263.3 million. That is 19.3 times more.

The income tax bill went up too, but only 7.8 times as much because tax rates plunged. Income tax rates at the top fell 60 percent, three times the percentage rate drop for the vast majority. And at the top, the savings were not offset by higher payroll taxes, which are insignificant to top taxpayers. …

Without a doubt, the much lower tax rates at the top encouraged people to realize more income in the tax system. And if the only measure is that some people made more, then this would be a good. But let’s ask the question that the classical economists would have asked back when they were known as moral philosophers and their leaders spoke of policies that benefited the majority. Let’s go back to a time before Vilfredo Pareto’s observations began what is the overwhelmingly dominant orthodoxy today, neoclassical economics with its focus on gain.

What is the social utility of creating a society whose rules generate a doubling of output per person but provide those at the top with 37 times the gain of the vast majority?

That is one of the most significant questions to be asked of this moment of history, but it is one rarely uttered in popular discourse. Instead, we are offered an endless celebration of wealth and fame. We are a society built on consumption.

This is the trajectory we’re traveling along right now. The 2008 election year exposed rifts in the American political landscape that reflect a larger fragmentation of the society itself. Only by facing up to that reality will we be able to swing the pendulum back toward the ideals upon which the nation was founded… toward Enlightenment. The first half of the 20th century witnessed a fractured, polarized America make significant [although imperfect and contested at every step] progress toward creating a more just society based on legal rights and raised living standards only to see the second half largely dedicated to dismantling the policies and ideals that made that progress possible. Today, we stand much where we did in 1910… polarized, fragmented and lurching into an uncertain future in which a long-established global order is un-raveling. The two examples I’ve offered you here are indicative of the larger problems that we, as a society, face, but they are not the only ones. I am hopeful that we will again be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century, however we must first own up to the problems that we have made for ourselves. Happy New Year.