Starting Over

America: The World's First Post-Industrial State? by Dustin Ensinger on October 22, 2010

I just came across this article a couple of weeks ago, but it’s been bugging me ever since. The article is very informative with plenty of statistics supporting the claim that America very well will be, probably already is, by this point, considered a post-industrial state.  Really? Our number one export is, literally, garbage? That’s just wrong on so many levels.

The article bugged me, specifically, because while the statistics are incredibly important, it offered no actual solutions to such a crisis. Knowledge only becomes powerful when we actually use it to create a better tomorrow.

So, industry has moved out of America. Now what? Do we just give up? There was no “industry” in America when it first became America either, but our predecessors found needs and niches and simply made stuff and offered services in response to the needs of  the consumers. None of these pre-industrialists made millions of dollars, necessarily, but they rolled up their sleeves and worked hard and earned themselves food on the table and a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs. Not starting a whole other debate here, but they did this without any government entitlements, before there was Social Security, Medicare, welfare and unemployment insurance. There were no unions and no bailouts. There were no retirement funds and pensions. This country started out with a whole bunch of sole proprietors. That’s it. There were farmers and blacksmiths and  bakers and seamstresses. Everyone contributed, for the sole purpose of eeking out a living, and as a result, everyone benefited from the products and services that were provided.

As sole proprietorships grew into small businesses and then, of course, into big businesses, people in America became increasingly accustomed to working FOR someone and depending on someone else for paychecks and services. When you think of it that way, it’s almost like the big bosses of big business were handing out an allowance to their employees.  Then, people began to expect the government to provide allowances for them as well. I am not saying any of this is necessarily BAD, there are certainly social services, such as public education, for example, that are tremendous assets to our society. With this dependence on big business to provide products and services, as well as jobs, we, the working class, found ourselves in a position of being the beggar  and Corporate America has realized it.

This happened before, when we were colonists dependent on Mother England. When we decided we had had enough of having no control over where our tax dollars, sent to England, were being spent, we simply did something about it. We took the initiative and went out on our own and took control of our own circumstances (so to speak.)

We can certainly do it again. If, as the article states, America does virtually nothing other than create trash and consume things, then we certainly know there is a buyer’s market right here. It is possible turn the tables and cut Corporate America out of OUR equation, especially since they already cut the American workers out of theirs. We don’t need a huge industrial complex to provide jobs and services. The fruits and veggies from your local farmers have no preservatives, require no transport (saving on fuel costs) and, to my knowledge, have NEVER gotten recalled. Your local butcher shop does their own quality control on the meat products they sell. A friend of mine uses a local tax preparer during income tax time, because the preparer makes house calls. I don’t think H&R Block does that. 

We, as a nation of consumers, have become complacent. We no longer expect the quality and excellence in services and products that was once synonymous Made in the USA because, alas, we think there isn’t much left that’s Made in the USA. So many of us are forgetting that we have the power to change that, we have arms and legs and muscles and minds and skills from years of working for others. Maybe it’s time we use them. The slate’s already been wiped clean by Corporate America. Maybe it’s time to take that leap and invest in ourselves again. Maybe it’s time for starting over.