Autor Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I am trying to wrap my head around the systematic dysfunction that we are dealing with today. I remember in my early 20’s being in the Army and not having political fist fights with my contemporaries. Both parties at that time appeared to have similar goals, balanced budget, take care of the common good, infrastructure, defense, the difference was the method to get there. Granted we had a profoundly twisted ground swell of economics that was push by Reagan that the more benefits the wealthy and corporations received that that would trickle down to the masses.

This tickle down theory was not new but a rehash of the Horse and Sparrow theory that arose in the late 19^th century that said if you feed a horse enough oats what is excreted from the horse will feed that sparrows. That theory was thoroughly debunked by the robber barons getting richer while the rest starved and this gave rise to the unionization of America and the growth of the middle class. The rich were still rich but far fewer were starving.

The question is how has a entirely new generation been duped into believing that this actually works. Since the 1980’s we have seen the decline of the middle class, the consolidation of wealth to a few lucky families and huge operations almost the exact thing that happened in the early industrial area. History appears to be repeating itself and currently we have one party completely ignoring it actually pushing the narrative.

My question is what is it going to take to change this coarse? With media flooding the airwaves with this narrative and the masses turning a blind eye what has to happen for those that play the redneck retirement plan for buying lottery tickets to finally see that their children aren’t going to do better than they did. Many of my generation (X) are coming to the realization that we are not  doing much better than our parents and many are doing far worse.

So when did the wheels come off and can we hope to get them back on?