Downsize Nation: Welcome to the New, Smaller American Dream

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Tara Lohan

Downsize Nation: Welcome to the New, Smaller American Dream
As heartbreaking as the job losses and foreclosures are, there is also a bright side to the downward economy -- Americans are beginning to see that "less is more."

December 8, 2010 |


Editor's Note: Vision Quest: In these trying times of frustration and confusion, of Tea Party Right Wing ascendance, and too much Obama and Democratic party impotence and failure of the imagination, let's pause. It is again the moment to step back, stimulate the imagination, rethink, and bring together the best ideas, models, and blueprints for change, especially the ones that can work. The world many of us aspire to, which seemed much closer just two short years ago, is again rapidly disappearing from view. But let's not let it. Let's keep the ideas, vision, and alternatives in play, and in discussion. Because it seems clear we need some fresh thinking. Most of those folks inside the Beltway, along with the tens of thousands of lobbyists all with their special agendas, which have almost nothing to do with what is good for us, seem to have a hard time imagining things much different than they are used to day after day. After all, they all do quite well that way. But for the rest of us, that won't work. AlterNet is resurfacing this excellent article by Enviro editor Tara Lohan for the new year.


It's been two years since 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death by a frenzied crowd of Black Friday shoppers at a Long Island Walmart. The stampede is a twisted symbol of what's become of the American Dream: We'll apparently stop at nothing in the quest for more stuff.

But that wasn't the holy grail that James Truslow Adams had in mind when he first coined the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book, The Epic of America. Instead he believed in "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone ... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

Adams wrote that as the Great Depression was beginning to swallow many Americans' dreams -- and their fortunes. Perhaps that time of financial instability helped him to see something beyond just the grasping for wealth. As Americans today are trying to claw their way out of our worst economic rout since the days of Adams, have we gained any similar insight?

The end of the second World War ignited the spark of our consumer culture -- one that reached a conflagration by the 1980s as spending outpaced the median income and has ended, for many, in catastrophe in recent years. As heartbreaking as the job losses and foreclosures are, there is also a bright side to the downward economy -- Americans are beginning to see some value in the "less is more" adage. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/149077/downsize_nation%3A_welcome_to_the_new%2C_smaller_american_dream/

[hollowdweller]

1. My Problem with Downsize Nation

The last time I sort of remember people downsizing was the late 70's. Cars because of the price of gas and consumer goods due to inflation.

The difference between then and now is people don't seem to have the corresponding amount of free time that should go with lowered incomes to be able to economize.

In the 70's my mom cooked nearly all our meals my dad even came home for lunch. For recreation we went to museums or went hiking or swimming at a nearby lake.

My mom was a stay at home mom and my dad worked 8 hours a day commuted about 15 minutes, and was off weekends.

If the price of housing would fall to the point that one person could stay at home and the cost of gasoline got so high that people had to work closer to their homes then maybe people would live a better life than where we work all the time and then shop for recreation. However what I see is the working class is supposed to work even longer for less money and even give up their benefits so the rich can live even HIGHER.

[LiberalEsto]

2. I have lived Less is More for decades

Our clothes and house furnishings usually come from garage sales.
We always bought houses that we could afford on just one of our salaries.
We've never bought expensive cars or taken expensive vacations.
We've downsized to one 6-year-old car.
We don't buy expensive electronics or jewelry or any of that stuff.
We almost never dine out, go to movies, or attend plays or concerts.
We became vegetarians both for health reasons and to save money.
I grow fruits, vegetables and herbs.
I use grocery coupons and shop at clearance sales.
We buy used books.
We no longer get root canals and crowns -- we get the teeth yanked.
Etc. etc. etc.

And somehow we still don't have anything to save, and have no prospects of going beyond living paycheck to paycheck. I feel like we have to work harder and harder just to stay in place, only we don't stay in place. We just keep slipping further and further behind.

Thanks a fucking lot, corporations and billionaires.

[jwirr]

3. That sounds like the average family today. I watch my children and

their families struggle and never have any time off work to really enjoy themselves. Something has to give.

[briteleaf]

4. How to downsize America

1. Downsize our supersized military and return trillions of dollars to our economy. Have the guts to stop the 2 wars we got into by idiocy.
2. Educate the poor to elect politicians who will outlaw lobbyists and secret campaign ads. Take control back from the wealthy.
3. Break up all of the largest banking, media, energy and insurance corporations whether they are too big to fail or they dominate the industry.
4. Reward citizens and businesses who actively use energy alternatives.
5. Restrict government employees from going to work for businesses they were involved with while serving the public.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. welcome to DU...

and I agree with all points.

[madmax]

6. Welcome to DU

Excellent points. Not in my lifetime but, we have to start someplace and we have to start now.