Wakeup time?
common: a mutually caring society, a high value on personal honesty, affordable high quality health care, an adequate median income, good governance and a relative absence of corruption in government and business.
Americans are naturally interested in where we rank. Ranked 3rd in the first study in 2007, over the past decade we have experienced a steady decline in happiness and general feelings of well being. By 2016 we had fallen to 19th. The reasons behind this drop are seen by many as declining social support and increased corruption in practically all areas of American society. To this we might add an increasing disparity in wealth and family income, the widest gap since the Great Depression years. Unemployment is also an obvious cause of unhappiness, but the quality of the job can affect happiness and contentment as well. In addition to pay, jobs should offer intrinsic value.
Norway has moved to the top of the World Happiness rankings despite declining oil prices, its major source of wealth, extremely low winter temperatures and twenty-hours-longmidwinter nights. Norway achieves its lofty status not because of its petroleum wealth but in spite of it. The Norwegians have elected to produce their oil at a slower, measured rate and invest part of the income in the future. Thus they have avoided the ruinous boom and bust cycles of so many other resource-rich countries. Norway also maintains a high level of mutual trust, shared common goals, national self-discipline and sound governance. They would categorically reject Ronald Reagan’s claim that government IS the problem.
On the other hand, although Americans, have improved on percapita income and life expectancy, they have a weakening social support network, less sense of personal freedom and responsibility, lower charitable giving and more and wider corruption in government and business. Add to this the declining membership in most American religious denominations and we have a future that’s neither promising nor reassuring.
In our 2016 election barely 58% of eligible voters even made it to the polls, a national disgrace. According to various surveys 60 percent of American political party members and 70 percent of independents, today’s largest constituency, express major dissatisfaction with both parties’ candidates and platforms and favor consideration of a third party.
Political change isn’t going to come from the top with protest candidates on an ego trip as in the last election. It must be a bottomup effort capable of electing a president, vice president and congress. And it must begin with county commissioners, sheriffs and school board members. If we can’t make intelligent changes at the local level, why would we think we could do it in Washington. There are radical and substantive changes needed, but I don’t see the present leadership of either party capable of or inclined to do very much. It’s wakeup time!
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.