BETWEEN THE LINES: Unrest grows in U.S. as social mood sours
The growing unrest first exemplified by the tea party movement and the more recent Occupy Wall Street demonstrations remind me of a famous line from the 1976 movie "Network." In the film, news anchor Howard Beale, played exquisitely by Peter Finch, goes berserk on the set as he rants, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Beale encouraged his listeners to open their windows and shout out that phrase.
The growing social science of socionomics contends that social mood triggers events, and not vice versa. One need look no further than the Occupy Wall Street protests to illustrate this. The demonstrators are angry about income disparity, government bailouts and corporate loan guarantees.
However, many hitting the streets are unable to specifically clarify what is infuriating them. Some blame capitalism, but, as consumer reporter and Fox Business show host John Stossel points out in a recent column, that criticism needs a closer look. If the protestors are referring to crony capitalism — a marriage of government and select Wall Street firms — the libertarian Stossel would concur.
This hybrid form helped produce the housing bust, corporate loan guarantees and bailouts to federal government favorites. However, if the dissenters are referring to the free market, Stossel would strongly disagree. As he points out, if the United States had a true free market, income disparity still would exist because it is a byproduct of freedom. However, the real issue is not income disparity, according to Stossel, but an improving standard of living, which the free market when allowed to operate has produced.
Author and stock market analyst Robert Prechter, in his most recent edition of the "Elliott Wave Theorist," makes an interesting observation when he points out that income disparity, government overspending and overtaxing has been a fact for 70 years, so why the protests now? The answer, he contends, can be found in social mood. The last two decades of the 20th century saw great economic growth and a booming stock market, which relegated these shortcomings to the backstage. Content people do not protest.
The economic grave we have dug for ourselves will test our civility as social mood continues to decline. If 9 percent unemployment causes protests, what will 25 percent do? When government is forced to cut back on spending, those directly affected will not be happy campers. We are a spoiled country — what we define as poverty, much of the world would consider prosperity.
We no longer have a commonality of language, customs and traditions to fall back on. In Los Angeles, 50 percent of residents speak a language other than English in their own homes. Multiculturalism, coupled with a flawed immigration policy, has forever changed the demographics of our country just in my lifetime.
Political commentator Pat Buchanan points out in his newest book, "Suicide of a Super Power," the problems of our country are further compounded by the decline of religion, resulting in a moral decline. It appears secularism, for the moment, has won out. We have placed our soul on the altar of political correctness, and in the end we will have nobody to blame but ourselves. Can the nation be saved? Yes, but time is running out. Like a growing cancer, it will reach a point when it becomes inoperable.
Laughlin is a Christian Libertarian. He is an economist, teacher, father, husband and most recently a grandfather. He has written a weekly column for The Tribune for 12 years. He and his wife Gina reside in Meadowlakes. To contact him, email ablaughlin@nctv.com. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company.