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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Victor Davis Hanson
As the year in politics closed,
Liberals countered that the wages of the middle class have become stagnant over the last decade, and it is time for the wealthy to pay more for others. Meanwhile, both sides talked of American decline and assumed that the federal government was either the problem or the solution.
These debates were predicated on ossified notions of relative wealth and poverty as calibrated in money, and ignored that such methods of measurement are now archaic in our brave new world. Imagine if just 30 years ago we had dreamed that soon most Americans would have small mobile phones that let users talk or send text messages and photos to anyone in the world for mere pennies per minute -- a veritable revolution in daily life brought about without the aid of a massive
Could yesteryear's Great Society have ever promised to nearly all Americans that they would soon have instant information at their fingertips on almost any topic imaginable, from treating migraines to wiring a house to a crash course in Dante's "Inferno"? Surely the kings, corporate magnates and fat cats of the old Wall Street would have paid millions for such knowledge that is now accorded to almost anyone with a computer at home, work, school or a library, without the need of expensive specialists, scholars or books.
Today, Americans have cheap GPS navigation systems superior to what jet pilots used 30 years ago. Secret agent James Bond's gadgets seem passé in comparison to the accessories available on today's iPhones -- all made available to us without a government program.
The country tore itself apart over health care in 2010. What was rarely mentioned is that dozens of cancers that were not long ago tantamount to death sentences are now treatable. For all the talk of an epidemic of obesity and couch-potato sloth, today's 80-year-olds -- thanks to new life-saving drugs, and rapid advances in correcting chronic bone, joint, hearing, vision and dental problems -- often resemble yesterday's 60-year-olds.
As gas exceeds
In 1970, I was once given a ride in a plush luxury Cadillac Coup de Ville. Now, a midlevel Malibu, Taurus, Accord or Camry is safer, quieter, more comfortable and replete with a host of standard features that were yesterday's high-ticket luxury options. I would wager that a basic-model Kia would run more reliably than the vintage Bentleys and Rolls-Royces of Britain's Royal Family.
I grew up listening to scratchy vinyl records on a huge awkward needle player. Now, thumb-sized digital music pods at cheaper prices hold far more songs and play them with far better quality. Flying used to be an aristocratic privilege beyond the reach of most of the middle class. Today it is an American pastime. Cruises in the 1960s were synonymous with private yachts; now the middle class enjoys luxury liners.
Three-bedroom, two-bathroom suburban houses of the 21st century are warmer in winter, cooler in summer, with far more appliances and comforts than was true of the vast mansions of the old rich of the mid-20th century.
In sum, Americans are richer, healthier and have more options than at any time in their history -- and in ways that do not usually register in our outdated metrics of what constitutes being wealthy or poor.
Yes, there is poverty still, and tension over relative status and influence. In addition, the good life cannot always be measured by materialism alone, but by peace of mind, security and opportunities as well.
Yet this Christmas we should all at least give ourselves some credit. In the last three decades, the United States -- through technological breakthroughs, improved worker productivity and the importation of globalized production from abroad -- has achieved a level of material prosperity for its 300 million citizens unmatched at any time in the history of civilization.
Quite simply, yesterday's royalty would not make it into today's middle class.
Available at Amazon.com:
Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America
Jimmy Carter: The American Presidents Series: The 39th President, 1977-81
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House
Renegade: The Making of a President
Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War
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