The American Mind

‘The American Dream’ vs ‘No Hope’

William Hillman

(10/2018) In less than forty days America will go to the polls and make a critical decision. Do we believe the American dream still alive and achievable, or is the American dream over?

This midterm election really is a referendum on the Trump agenda to make Americans first, to continue on the road of renegotiating trade policies that are putting American workers’ interests before those of multinational corporations, and to continue the process of removing government regulations that hinder and stifle business growth in job opportunities.

Recently I was speaking to a friend who is a local Democratic leader. The nearby TV was tuned to CNN which was interviewing New York congressional candidate, socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. My friend stopped in mid-sentence, pointed at the TV and said, "I don’t know what that is, but that is not my party." He went on, "I’m a Democrat because I was taught by my father that the Democrat party is the party of the working class, it protects the rights of workers. That women on the TV is probably wearing a dress that cost more than most people make in a month. And she wants American workers to compete for jobs with foreign working in sweatshops for less than a dollar an hour. How do they expect me to vote for that or ask my people to vote for that?"

On September 25th, Elizabeth Warren hosted a fundraiser for another socialist progressive, Madeline Dean. Dean is a candidate running in Pennsylvania’s fourth Congressional District. Elizabeth Warren talks about living wage and workers’ rights while standing next to and giving money to Madeline Dean, a woman who has been exposed by the Philadelphia Inquirer for owning sweatshops in China. It is clear these people do not care about the American middle class. But I guess it’s okay because she says the right things. And that’s the new normal: as long as you say the right things you can do anything you want.

It seems that the democratic platform this year has one plank: ‘Hate Trump.’ They can’t run on the economy. Their narrative is a dystopia where unemployment remains high, growth is low, and the future of the American middle-class is as wards of the State, like they’ve attempted to do with the Black and Hispanic urban population.

The Democrats are aided by the Republican House and Senate that have been ineffective. They’ve failed to pass legislation on major issues including, healthcare, border security, trade, and national budget. The Republican legislature has abdicated its power. In many cases the Republican leadership in the House and Senate has accepted the doom and gloom vision of the future. (More on the failings of the Republican party next month, but that may take a book.)

Maybe the two slogans for this election should be, ‘The American Dream’ vs. ‘No Hope’.

Remember former President Obama’s message to middle America? "Those jobs are never coming back!" He is back and telling everyone that the jobs and growth you are experiencing are not real or that he is responsible.

During the presidential campaign, Trump promised growth of 3.5% per year, and sometimes even 4%. The political class and their experts, pundits, and academics, laughed and accused the President of being "off his rocker" or "delusional".

Former President Obama told us, "We will stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high."

Greg Ip of the Wall Street Journal also wrote, "Trump’s 3% growth target looks out of reach."

Mark Sanford, of the Washington Post explained, "Trump can’t Twitter-shame his way to economic growth."

Jason Furman, formerly the Chief Economist for the Obama White House said, "it would require everything to go right … in ways that are either historically unparalleled or toward the upper end of the historical range."

In June of 2017 we heard, "The Congressional Budget Office forecasts an annual average growth of about 1.9% well into the next decade."

In case you missed the headline, current US real gross domestic product increased to 4.2 percent.

According to the Census Bureau, "We can confirm that real median household income was higher in 2017 than in any prior year for which we have data." The median income for U.S. Hispanic households hit a record high of $50,486 in 2017, which was released last week.

Under former President Obama, from 2009 to 2015, the incomes of Black Americans fell by more than $900 per family, adjusted for inflation. Under President Trump, the unemployment rate for blacks fell to 5.9 percent in May, hitting the lowest level since the government started to record that data in 1972. Since Trump has taken office, Black employment has grown by an average of nearly 40,000 jobs each month. Black employment has increased by 708,000 jobs since last year.

Whether you like Trump or not, the evidence is pretty clear, he is bringing jobs back. His plan of renegotiating trade deals and lowering regulations is working.

Americans are more optimistic and have more hope for the future today than they did 2 years ago. Just look at the consumer confidence levels. The latest report showed a greater number of Americans anticipate purchasing big-ticket items including homes, cars, and major appliances within six months, which bodes well for the outlook for consumer spending. The report also said more Americans were optimistic about pay gains.

Not too far from where I live, there is a steel rolling plant that employs a little over 1,000 people. From the mid 90’s until 2016 the plant had struggled, laying off workers and cutting operations. In early 2016, it was announced that the plant would shut down for good by 2017. But then something happened after Trump was elected. Trump made it known that he would renegotiate trade deals in favor of American manufacturing and the American worker.

In the beginning of 2017, the plant announced it was delaying its closure. By the middle of the year it was hiring back laid-off workers. Since, it has added extra shifts and I hear rumors that it’s looking at expanding.

Employment and optimism for the future have a great impact on the soul and well-being of this Nation. I’ve said it before in this column, people need to be productive and they need to have hope that their dreams are possible. Socialism can’t provide that. Totalitarian government, as proposed by the progressives and socialists, has no room for dreams and self-determination. The only thing the progressivism and socialism offer is care, control, and containment. Under that vision, your current state in life will never change. Nor will it change for your children or your grandchildren. And if history is any prediction, it will get worse. "No Hope" is not just a slogan, it is what they are offering.

November 6th we will pick a course.