Independence Day

It takes all the energy I can muster to put my head down and go to work, literally and figuratively these past few weeks.

It’s Summer, the economy is worse than ever, I’m underemployed, the middle class is in an uproar, the ocean is dying and all I want to do is play in the mountains.

I work the 4th concert at the US Capitol every year. Despite the high heat, 30K people walked through the gates, with an untold how many more were on the Mall proper. People from all walks of life joined together to celebrate the nation’s independence. Especially heartening were the immigrant families. Thousands showed up with red, white, and blue attire, some with flags, and members of the military in full dress (in the 98 degree heat, too).

We as a nation have strayed far from the founding fathers vision. Just because you can’t read the real constitution any more because of the faded ink, doesn’t mean we don’t know what it says. Most of the founders were enterprising farmers, stewards of the land. A direct relation to the LA profession where work, research and ingenuity (read Washington and Jefferson) led to advancements in efficiency, crops, and labor savings, all while being mindful of the land that supported them. The original organic farmers! Everyone was far more independent and free back then. I’ve been to many of the estates, and it always impresses me how much these guys actually did. There are no modern day equivalents, not even close. I feel very lucky to live where I do so I can see all of this historical stuff just a few miles down the road.

One thing to remember, the American Revolution did not start out to break from the rule of the King, it was about convincing him to PRESERVE our self governance rights he had previously granted and was now trying to take away. The King tried to tighten his grip on the colonies further when colonists objections were relayed, and after the tightening is when the revolution talk started. The founders revolted over far less daily intrusion by a government than we deal with today. For instance, on April 15th, think about how much of your income goes to tithe the NEW royals in the big white palaces on both ends of Pennsyvania Avenue, especially if you own a business.

Right you are Jason. There are a lot of people feeling very threatened by the intrusions from those two places.

When people can’t choose to do what they want with the rewards of their efforts, they find it much more difficult to make the effort, take risks (like hiring people, or building things), and to donate to good causes.

Whether we choose to believe it or not, the founding fathers made a system that flourished because they understood human nature (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and harnessed it. Today, so many want to believe that people will make more effort for the common good than for their own good. It is warm and fuzzy, but simply untrue.

Americans are not and never were different than any other people in the world. It was our system that made us different. Now many want to change to the systems that they see in other parts of the world. That is arrogance at its worst because that is clearly based on thinking that we are a superior people rather than having a superior system.

Both. There are people with the capability and potential who just don’t (look at our inner cities-look at our schools), and business regulation (in many states) is so costly and so prohibitive, the endeavor is not worth the effort for the return. I do think much of it has to do with personal ambition as well. These guys read all the time, no TV remember, and learned several languages just to be able to read thought from around the world. Jeffersons library, now at the Library of Congress, had almost 6,500 books in languages ranging from Italian, to French, German, and even Arabic. Plus, he was an architect, plus, a farmer, plus, a business man (they had to sell their stuff), and he was a diplomat, and a politician. You have to want to be a success to be a success.

These guys also HAD to be diverse, because if they didn’t do it, it didn’t get done. If we don’t know (or don’t want to) do something, we can call somebody to come and do it for us. While these guys did have some help (sometimes not in the bese circumstances), they had to have the knowledge to make it all work. We have Universities and free libraries, they didn’t. Frankin created the first lending Library in Philadelphia, and Jefferson sold his personal library to the Library of Congress to replace the collection the British burned in the War of 1812. It is all about the collection and sharing of knowledge. Thats why I keep a huge library myself.

Of course, things were a bit simpler back then. They didn’t have all the knowlege we have today, and the advent of the industrial revolution and career specialization means we don’t have to be as diversely educated, we can specialize. So much has been learned and advanced in the past few hundred years, it is staggering.

Who is pushing anyone down. All I’m saying is that the system excells on people taking risks that they would not take if they had little to gain from it.. Certainly we have compassion, certainly we as a society have shown over and over again that we have the greatest capacity to choose the good. But there has only been one factor that makes us different that can not be dismissed. It is the engine that enables all of us to have the capacity to “do good”. That is our freedom to own and keep our property. That is a huge motivational tool that creates wealth, jobs, and even tax revenue.

So how you you, Andrew, and Jason, think we should proceed, as a society, regarding off-shore drilling? Less regulation, more free-enterprise? Is that the American way?

I think lately more than ever perhaps people, especially the truly middle class, are beginning to see the hampster wheel for what it is.

I can’t place blame on anyone or any specific thing directly for ‘keeping me down,’ but certainly in this economic climate the separation between classes is ever more apparent. From my own personal experience I can tell you that my rate of pay has increased very little in almost ten years in spite of ‘spinning the wheel’ (getting an education, competing for work, working long hours). That alone is demoralizing and I think it’s generally the case with many American’s today and part of the problem you and Jason bring up. It’s nearly impossible for someone in my economic position to buy anything of lasting value, ie land. Sometimes it seems like any sense of collective pride is gone amongst Americans, except perhaps on July 4th when we can buy the T-shirts and noisemakers. The only people that seem to make a decent living in this country are those selling stuff we think we need to the rest of us.

Where do we go from here? I think there needs to be some fundamental shift in our cultural value system. Perhaps some of this burden lies on academia and the public school systems, while some also lies in the example we set and what we teach to our children about materiality, money, religion, freedom, and our natural environment. I think we need to learn to think and debate again and good examples need to be set in the government.

I see and have seen opportunity all of my life when others are making money because they spend it on things that we can make, move, or service.

A rising tide floats all boats? I’m not sure I believe this anymore. Wealthy, upper class individuals are buying Chinese and investing in derivatives.

Chasing the dream of America is what makes that hampster wheel spin. No dream = no motivation.

I agree that there needs to be incentive to work, innovate, be productive, but I think there’s also a fundamental flaw in your rationale as you stated it. The American Dream, for me, isn’t about becoming the CEO of Wells Fargo for the sake of ego or financial gain and I don’t think this is what the forefathers had in mind either. The American Dream is about independence, freedom, and legacy. I think most American’s have some screwball idea of the first two, but absolutely no sense of the last. Our legacy, after we leave this Earth is what really matters in my opinion. We all have some impact, whether it be the way we treat our land and property or the information we pass on for subsequent generations.