Progress left behind

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

It's very easy to be alarmist these days. The federal government has shut down; we're fighting wars in several countries with no end in sight; local unemployment rates have shown little improvement in recent months; gas and food prices are rising fast; and lawmakers at all levels seem more bent on ideological gamesmanship than real results if it means compromise and working with those "on the other side."
It's easy to be alarmist, although we've never liked to go to that extreme. We've always felt that things are usually never as bad, nor as good, as people think.
But we're starting to wonder if this state and this nation are truly headed in the wrong direction, perhaps irreversibly.
For the first two centuries of our country's history, "progress" was all the rage. Look back in newspapers from the late 1800s, or early 1900s, and it's easy to see that people then were looking for ways to improve their condition, whether it be at home, at work, in the sciences, or transportation or in their community.
The old issues of the New Bethlehem Vindicator shine light on this obsession with "progress." Every issue talks about the improvements in the community, from the transition of muddy paths to paved sidewalks; or the new plate glass window installed at the local druggist shop; or new ball fields created for the area's recreational pursuits. It was all about looking at what was presently available, and imagining ways to make it better.
Over time, progress was touted in the workplace. Safety improvements were made; wages went up; benefits were introduced; protections for injured workers were put into place; and progress was shouted from the factories, offices and stores across the country. At home, progress could be seen as houses got bigger, modern conveniences were introduced, electric and new forms of heating came along, and progress was apparent in our everyday lives.
Outside, we could see progress as dirt streets and roads were paved; little one-room schools gave way to the modern public education system; railroads came and then interstate highways were built to save travel time; communication services moved at light speed; we went to the moon and dreamed about what was next; and progress was proclaimed in all the headlines.
But where are we today? Where is the progress? We're in the midst of a national debate about the need to step back from the employee benefits that we once touted as progress. We are seeing a move away from asphalt streets and roads to more oil-and-chip or dirt roads. We are seeing more people forced to live, or die, with treatable ailments because they can't afford medical care. And we're being told that our educational system - from grade schools through public universities - is too big and expensive and must be chopped back.
That's not progress.
Maybe these changes are needed to "right the ship," to save our nation from the crippling debt that so many leaders today claim will be the end for our country as we know it. But in making these drastic changes, aren't we already moving more and more away from the country that we've known for so long? Instead of cutting employee benefits for public workers, shouldn't we be looking for ways to preserve these benefits as well as promote the same level of benefits and protection for all other private-sector workers? Shouldn't we be looking for ways to advance people forward, instead of taking them back? Shouldn't we want our children and grandchildren to have it better than we have it now? If we've already begun the retreat, are we on a course to return to the working and living conditions that our ancestors fought so hard to improve a century or more ago?
We urge all of our public officials - from local municipal leaders to those in the halls of Congress - to pause for a moment to review their goals and objectives to see if they really are advancing this country, to see if there is real progress, rather than steps back to the "been-there-done-that" world we thought we had left behind.