Addressing Privilege and Falling Through Cracks

 I am writing this in a very frustrated mood today - I have been facing a serious issue that I seem to be hitting dead ends with, and to be honest it is tiring me out.  Going through this though has made me think about some things, and I have a few thoughts to share today. This post will be a little different, and could be unpredictable, so please bear with me as I sort through my thoughts and organize them coherently.

Today, the culture of "wokeness" that pervades society has an awful lot to say about something called "White privilege," and it merits attention.  What is "White privilege" anyway?  It seems no one has a clear definition of what it is other than just "White people are evil, racist, and they have privilege," and that is it.  When I hear someone go off on that (and in 99.9% of the cases, the rant comes from a fairly well-off White liberal) I start thinking back to my childhood.  I grew up in a small, poor West Virginia town, and my parents divorced when I was very young and I was raised by a single mother.  When we weren't shuffling back and forth between relatives (one year, I believe I went to four schools in one year), we lived in a town which was made up of many people just like us but some were in worse circumstances than I was.  Although the tiny town I lived in was 100% White, none of us were rich tycoons by any stretch.  Many of the kids in town had alcoholic parents, many were abused, some of them had emotional and social issues that hindered their progress in school and even in jobs later, and there were many of us kids who had nights where our dinner was either a bag of potato chips (if we were lucky!) or at one point for me even having to raid the neighbor's gardens to get fresh corn, green tomatoes, cabbage, and other vegetables just to eat that day.  On some nights, dinners consisted of just fried cabbage or potatoes and drop biscuits I learned to make at a young age. This was the days before the internet too, and in my own house all the entertainment I had was a radio, and the Sunday night program of vintage big band music on WBT-AM out of Charlotte, NC, was a major event.  And, I read a lot - there was nothing better to do, but I had access to books at least.  Late, when life got a little better, some of the neighborhood kids I was friends with would come over and we would play Yahtzee or Uno in my room while eating fried chicken nuggets and listening to my modest but nice record collection I was amassing from the local junk store in the nearby town of Rio.  Life was simple, but we made it work, but it was not in any way "privileged" at all for any of us.  

I did decently in school, and over the years getting involved in church and playing in my high school band was my social life, and eventually I did graduate and went off to college.  In the ensuing 30 or so years after, I earned three degrees, one vocational certificate as a paralegal, and a postgraduate certificate at the halfway point of my doctoral program.  Yet, I faced issues over the years too - despite having over 26 years of work experience and a very decent education I worked hard to get, I find myself still being passed over for jobs I should be perfect for, and that flusters me.  My question to the idiots who cry about "White privilege" all the time is this - if I am so damned "privileged," then why am I not getting opportunities I earned??  Even at brief times when I have had to resort to public assistance, I was told I "made too much income" (despite the fact I wasn't pulling in anything at that point) to qualify for help - where is my so-called "privilege" there??  After a while, I began taking note of some things, and a few observations came to mind I will get into now.

Does an "American Dream" really exist, and if so, who can achieve it?  I was reading on a site called Qora several threads on the topic of individuals who moved away from the US.  Many of them were middle-aged men, and there are several things that were recurring in each of their conversations that got my attention.

1. The over-regulation and over-taxation of everything - you cannot even pass gas in some places unless you have a permit to do so. Then you get charged an exorbitant amount for the permits. 

2.  The lack of work - many of these individuals are highly qualified and represent a large diversity of backgrounds ranging from blue-collar professionals to Ph.Ds. Yet. they get passed over for jobs they should be a perfect fit for.  You meet one educational or occupational hurdle and are still told it isn't enough. 

3. Ridiculous cost of living - Many of these individuals correctly pointed out that they are essentially being priced out of existence where they live.  People with $40K/year salaries are living hand-to-mouth. 

4. Lack of safety - many individuals in these discussions lament (rightly) that they cannot even go to a gas station without the risk of being mugged or murdered.

5. Lack of community - another complaint that came up is how many of us don't even know who our neighbors are, and how disconnected many families even are these days.

These are just five things I observed, but there were probably even more as I didn't have a chance to read every discussion post on the topic.  But, these five are enough - some Americans are starting to see that there is a more reasonable cost of living, and that their skills and talents are more appreciated elsewhere.  The COL (cost of living) ratio to the GAI (gross annual income) of many people are making it impossible to meet basic needs for many Americans, and with rich Democrats in power, it is getting worse.  While American citizens are forced to pay a lot of exorbitant costs for even basic necessities, the bureaucrats in many communities in the US are rolling out the red carpet for illegal aliens to come in totally unvetted.  I have to show an ID to just get Sterno for my fondue, but an illegal alien gets a luxury hotel, a $5000 debit card, and a bunch of other perks that hard-working Americans are paying through the nose for while they struggle with the choice to either keep a roof over their heads or eat dinner that night.  And, as I mentioned the other day about student loan forgiveness, both major parties are clueless as to what that even means - the Democrats want to extend that to everyone, while the Republicans often want to deny it to everyone.  Again, here is a thought - why not give it to those who actually need it, and maybe hit the universities with tuition caps so they don't charge an exorbitant amount for degrees??  Also, if students really work their butts off studying for those degrees, why aren't they rewarded with career opportunities after they graduate??  If that were the case, student loan debt would not be an issue, would it?  However, the state of both education and Corporate America is such that even if someone achieves a milestone, they want more, and more, and more...is all that extra nonsense even necessary for most jobs?? If we took care of those pivotal issues that many college graduates and mid-career professionals complain about, perhaps it would solve the problem.  And, that leads to another serious issue I have grown somewhat vocal about recently.

Part of this fictional "American Dream" should be property ownership.  Yet, a majority of people cannot afford to buy a house, and need to rent their homes - I am one of those.  Yet, in some states, such as Maryland, the state and local governments are disproportionately manned by rich realtors who don't understand what it is to have to rent a home just to have a roof over their heads.  Because of that, rich realtors tend to favor unlimited rent ceilings that make it almost impossible for many people to keep their homes.  This is an area which self-designated "conservative Republicans" fail in miserably, as they tend to favor rich realtors over struggling families, so they are against what are called "rent caps."  A "rent cap" sets a limit as to how much a landlord can increase rent costs on a tenant, and unfortunately here in Maryland many localities don't have caps so the rents can be extremely expensive.  That has been an issue I have personally experienced over the past couple of years, and frankly, it is a stress I don't need personally.  There are ways to bring this COL down to a more manageable level, and I think the key to that is broadening representation in local and state governments to include people who are affected by these things. 

In short, I am disappointed in our country - we have failed in so many ways and now I am even entertaining maybe moving to a more affordable place and getting the hell out of here.  I am a native son of America, and I love what it used to be, but in all honesty what it is becoming sickens me.  Maybe it is time to dissolve the union as it is and maybe start over with a smaller nation with far less bureaucracy.  It is one reason why I am also a Monarchist as well as paying attention to bioregional theories such as Joel Garreau's Nine Nations of North America.  The "Empire" is failing because it was never meant to be an empire to begin with - only permanent restructuring and change will reverse that.  Thank you for allowing me to share this week.