Editor,
It seems to me like all we ever hear is how bad things are or how we are headed towards certain doom. People dwell on the negative and insist that we are living in a time of tyranny. Others say we should topple the capitalist system that has lifted billions from poverty and delivered countless life-changing innovations. Many would prefer an idealized past that never really existed. I would like to remind everyone that America is a great country, and Clinton is a great community, and as far as I’m concerned there has never been a better time to be alive.
For almost all human history, we lived mean and short lives dominated by the toil of scraping out an existence, and if we were lucky, propagating the species before dying around thirty years of age. In the less distant past of the 1950s and 60s, a time that many reminisce as if it were utopia, we were almost all worse off than we are today. Yet, many continue to insist that we should head backwards towards the struggles of our past.
Modernity has been a gift to virtually everyone. Life expectancy at birth in the US has increased by nearly a decade since the 1960s. Child mortality has decreased from around 25% to roughly 5% globally and decreased from 3% to less than 1% here in the US. Maternal mortality has decreased, and devastating diseases like polio have been nearly eradicated.
Not only have we been healthier, but we’ve had more hours of leisure and over 50 additional minutes per day spent with our children. Our cropland is more productive, incomes have risen and many of the items associated with American life have become less expensive, higher quality, or both. The total size of the American economy per resident has nearly quadrupled from $14,000 to $55,000. Most Americans now have access to virtually all the world’s knowledge right in our pockets.
There are still very real struggles, especially for marginalized minority groups. We have a long way to go to make the American dream accessible to everyone. The incompleteness of this project is no reason to tear down liberal democracy, capitalism, or American society. Let’s decide not to suffer under the tyranny of our own ingratitude and faulty memories. Instead, let’s be clear-eyed about how much has improved, and remain determined to continue to build a healthier, happier, and more prosperous society.
Jake Neubauer
