Archive: Opinions

The EPA has announced that they have placed the Middle Class on its endangered species list.  For many years, the Middle Class was a vibrant and thriving part of society.  Men and women from all walks of life  worked in factories and all sectors of  industry providing a level of quality that rivaled all nations including Japan and China.

Their employers offered salaries and benefit packages, including a pension that ensured them a lifetime of security.   Middle Class workers had paid vacations.   In many Middle Class households, only one parent worked while the other, usually the mom, remained at home raising the children and performing duties that no amount of monetary compensation could ever cover.

The men and women who made up the Middle Class lived in affordable homes.  They purchased household goods made in American factories from toasters and vacuums to trucks and automobiles. 

Oil was cheap.  Gas was cheap.  Food was cheap.  Your local banker knew you, offered wise financial advice, and loaned money in amounts that could be repaid without risk to the borrower or to the institution.  Life was good.

Somewhere in the latter half of the 20th century, the Middle Class began its decline.  At first, the decline was barely noticeable with just a few factories closing in just a few states.  Workers could be retrained to perform other jobs in a variety of industries.   Life was still good for many.

But the jobs that remained in those factories soon moved to Mexico and then overseas to Japan, China and South Asia.   Headlines in our newspapers and breaking stories on the evening news warned us of the disappearance of the Middle Class.

With each election, Republicans and Democrats promised to “revive, renew, revitalize, reenergize, and recover” the Middle Class. The rhetoric from both sides spoke about a return to the glorious past that provided Middle America with affordable homes, health coverage, pensions, and security. 

Sadly, neither side has fulfilled its campaign promise to restore the vitality of the Middle Class for one simple reason:  Industry, the factories that once employed millions of Americans, the lifeblood of the Middle Class, has been outsourced overseas.   The process which began in the late 1960’s has nearly wiped out any hopes for a return and recovery.

There is one way we can turn around this economic disaster.  We can restore our Middle Class very easily by bringing back the millions of jobs that have been outsourced over the years.   To do this, we need to find an inexpensive fuel source using solar, wind, and yes, fossil fuels in an environmentally responsible way.

We possess the know-how and expertise.  The factories overseas are aging, just as ours had aged.  We can rebuild, refit, and reinvest.  We just landed a large vehicle on Mars.  That planetary SUV will begin drilling into the Martian surface and perform tests on soil samples. The data will be relayed back to NASA providing valuable information.   Who else but the United States could achieve such an unbelievable feat?

Our scientists are still the best in the world.  We need leaders willing to commit to a policy that returns manufacturing and production back to this country, powered by our own fuel sources, and staffed by men and women who make up the Middle Class.

Politicians have promised to help the Middle Class for years, and a few have kept their promise.  At times, they have made life worse for this group.  If we hope to save the Middle Class from extinction, our Politicians ought to take that same ingenuity and expertise that landed men on the Moon and an SUV on Mars and get production in full operation on American soil.  And that is to the point.

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