By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

For virtually all of human history, the vast majority of people have been poor – just like their parents and their children. And their children.

For most cultures, the first commandment and prime directive was very simple – we should all accept (and live according to) the role, status and station of life we were born into.

There was a time (as in almost all of recorded history) when we, as individuals, were defined and identified (and constrained) by the social expectations of the larger society.

Our family, or neighborhood (or in most recent contexts, our zip code) sets the stage for our access to money, education and opportunity.

In those years (and regions) social mobility was more fantasy than reality.

Most people were literally born to serve, as were their children. And their children. Forever.

That was destiny.

The way it was supposed to be.

The way God had intended it.

And then a funny thing happened: America happened.

America, with a few missteps, declared itself to be the “land of opportunity” a land where all and every individual, group or religion was welcome and could make a life for themselves not possible in the “old country”.

And people – of all religions, races, beliefs and aspirations did come.

And the “promised land”, for many, more than at any time in history in fact, fulfilled that promise.

And even though many who came here and prospered did their best to close the door behind them, the “promise” still kept its allure and, in spite of laws and walls, some people did what they have always done – sacrificed everything for a better life – for themselves and their children. And their children.

Other nations, for decades, complained about their “brain drain” – the fact that their best and brightest left home and settled – and made their fortunes – in America instead of back home.

And we complained about them coming here.

Station in life

We in North America use the word “station” differently than our more class-defined ancestors.

A “station” is not a place where we stop and stay. To us, a “station” is by definition, a place we go to catch transit to our next stop.

Our “station” is inherently transitory.

It is decidedly NOT where we stay or are defined, it is a temporary stop, and one step away from the next leg of our extended and continuing journey.

A “station” is then, not static, but is instead, a point of departure, a stepping stone to the next phase.

And, as I mentioned earlier, America, for most, delivered on its promise by facilitating the largest middle-class in world history.

The benefits of a burgeoning economy were many, but weren’t always evenly distributed.

Many key drivers of mobility were racially or religiously (even regionally) segregated, but nearly everyone living in a moderately wealthy, stable country could make a claim on some aspects of post-war prosperity.

And it was in the shadow of the devastation of World War II that more and more countries embraced and codified those elements, from laws to business practices that allowed them, to some degree, to pursue their own version of “the American dream”.

Across Europe, in particular, the centuries-long dream of mobility and egalitarianism for the average person was suddenly within reach.

After World War II, nation after nation instituted ambitious social safety networks: universal secondary education, increased access to higher education, home ownership subsidies (in the US) and public housing (most other rich nations), free healthcare for elderly and poor people (in the US) or for everyone (most other wealthy nations).

Unions became common, grew in numbers and influence, and as productivity improved, wages rose.

Here in America, for thirty years or so, we believed that we had “arrived” – that our children would be better off, better educated, safer and healthier than we were and, that was how life would be from then on.

But nothing, even a “dream”, lasts forever.

And then everything changed

But few, if any of us believe those things any more.

We all know that taxes and opportunities and our legal systems are skewed towards those in power and that debt (student or consumer) is the new (financial) bondage for most young people.

At least those not born into wealth.

And many complain that “no one wants to work anymore”. And no one does – at least as they have been expected to.

Unions are emerging in unexpected places (like Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and Amazon, among others) because the pay and working conditions are abysmal.

Workers demand to be treated (and compensated) fairly.

Fairness used to be something we Americans upheld – equality of opportunity in the workplace, at the ballot box, under the law and in the public sphere were core to our identity.

Most of us expect to have affordable goods or services – and we complain if we don’t.

We long for the days of cheap labor and food,

But we forget one essential thing; labor and food are cheap at a cost.

The writer Isaac Asimov had an intriguing answer to that dilemma; if we’d lived in the days when it was easy and affordable to get servants, we (or our children) would have been the servants.

If there is anything that defines America, or at least the real “dream” of America, it is the aspiration of something like equality of opportunity.

We might falter on our way, and differ on the preferred route, but the end, a culture of equity and opportunity, always lies before us.

The more we open up opportunity for all, the better off we all are.

Closing off opportunity for any of us hurts us all.