The harness maker

Observers sense American discontent with a rapidly changing world. A recently cited indicator is a suddenly popular song called “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Citizens seeking public office need to be wealthy or sell their allegiance to wealthy benefactors. Government has become confusing, with our national government and our state governments making an array of conflicting laws and an endless stream of court decisions and reversals that deliver uncertainty.

Opinion polls indicate substantial pessimism regarding our rancid political environment, dismay with the concentration of wealth and power, and doubt that the future will be better. Some of the concerns are realistic, others not so much. The prime suspect for the cause of American pessimism is social media, where the license to influence people is not accompanied by a requirement to be responsible. Our legislators need to tame this monster.

Our current discontent is not based on crushing hardship. A look at history is revealing.

In England, cloth was woven by individuals working in their homes until the late 1700s when industrial looms were installed in factories. The workers, who were losing their livelihood, rebelled by destroying the factory machines. They were called Luddites. There were no social safety nets to prevent hardship for the people who lost their way to make a living.

From about 1650 until 1850, whale oil was used extensively in New England. Whale oil was used for lamps and candles. Whaling was dangerous, and thousands of sailors lost their lives attempting to bring whale oil to New England. In 1859, petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania, and the whalers were suddenly out of work.

Invention of the internal combustion engine and refining of gasoline from petroleum resulted in production of automobiles. Henry Ford’s famous Model T automobile was introduced in 1908. Automobiles quickly became immensely popular, and harness makers were out of a job.

In 1918, when the population of America was less than a third of the current population, there was an influenza pandemic that killed an estimated 600,000 Americans, mostly young adults including a disproportionate number of pregnant women. Is our condition worse today?  Surely not.

In the midst of the 10-year Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans were jobless, homeless, and hungry. Are conditions worse today?

As the Great Depression ended, America was thrust into WW II, and more than 400,000 young Americans lost their lives defending America. U.S. military personnel still serve at risk of life and limb but, fortunately, the casualty rate is not as severe as it was during WW II.

We Americans have exhibited pride in our industriousness and our ability to master new job skills. Now, jobs that pay well require advanced education. But automation and “artificial intelligence” threaten to take many of the jobs now performed by well-educated people. We have neither a political nor economic understanding of how to deal with these issues.

Technology is advancing with ever greater speed and complexity, creating more unemployed harness makers. San Francisco has driverless automobiles — taxi service. The traditional American ethos of rugged individualism is no longer sustainable. Hardly any of us grow our own food, gather our own fuel, or make the many products we use. We are extremely dependent on systems that we don’t control. We need to think about a different kind of future. We have made more progress in the past 100 years than in all of previous human existence. That accomplishment is justification for optimism about our future.

Jack Stevenson is a retired infantry officer, civil service and private corporation employee who now reads history, follows issues important to Americans, and writes commentary from his home in Pensacola, Florida.