The America of My Tomorrow

In the America of my imagined future, there is a lot of public discontent, endless struggles and deadlocks in Washington and an alarmist attitude among various interest groups poised to strike back when the federal fist hits them with undue regulation or budget cuts. 

But the America I imagine - Canada and Mexico, feel free to subscribe to my vision, making some necessary adjustments - has equality of opportunity regardless of race, gender, and no less importantly, economic STATUS. 

It is a land of economic growth and personal fulfillment. It is a place everyone wants to come, but unlike now, has no cause to regret their move. The country and continent I imagine during the time of my (as yet hypothetical) children’s adulthood is a place where the words “in hindsight” can only be heard in history classrooms. It’s the land of the people who look forward. They look forward to afternoon walks with their children in urban underground and high line parks; they look forward to getting home and working job #2, tablet in hand; they look forward to visiting their doctor - worth the wait! - and likely finding out that their condition is treatable thanks to a new drug; they look forward to elections because the vibrancy of the political system has finally given them a reason to vote locally and nationally, whether they wish to preserve the status quo or to wreak havoc to it.

The Americans of tomorrow don’t just look forward to things; they look forward at things. The policies they craft to address an ever-increasing number of threats to national security and national welfare are decidedly global and involve conforming to international standards established through treaties and U.N. resolutions on issues such as arms sales; pollution; women’s, children’s, minorities and indigenous peoples rights; nonproliferation; trade and banking; intelligence gathering and so on. We already follow unwritten rules in many of these areas, yet actually ratifying documents with binding clauses could build a platform for serious collective action alongside government efforts.  Being an international team player rather than a lone ranger would also rewrite the context in which we operate, bringing us closer to our partners oceans and hemispheres apart and bursting our bubble of isolation once and for all.

You may say that the isolationist era is over, that after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and involvement in Libya, America is about as isolationist as it was in 1945. You may be right, although the tendency of this administration is to observe conflict and direct intervention from the stands. You may also say that there is no economic isolation, given globalized production & supply chains, online services and crumbling trade barriers; nor does our culture exist in isolation: we are more connected to the world (the good and the bad and the sad) than at any other moment in history and this connectivity will only grow in quality and volume. 

And yet, we are a world apart. A member of the OAS (the Organization of American States, a league of democracies in the Western hemisphere resembling Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations), the United States is isolated in our own hemisphere. Heck, we are so isolated that we refer to ourselves as American, naturally excluding Canada and Mexico from what is rightfully their label too. Need I write of our international isolation exemplified by our disregard or at least muted skepticism of the U.N. and its efforts to improve human welfare, education, rights and security across the world?

It doesn’t help being geographically marooned in the company of chosen friends. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because of history that was not entirely of our making, we have developed a mentality that we are exceptional. Even exclusive. If you succeed in America, you’ll succeed anywhere, because nobody works as hard, earns as much, has this many options for the development of their life and enjoys as many freedoms, perks and quality entertainment. 

Well, actually.... #bbcdramas

But we won’t get on the subject of global indexes because you can Google that (and I don’t want you to Google away from my page). I also don’t see the point of writing about facts in this article. I’m a dreamer and the America of my tomorrow CAN be an enviable place to live and work:

The rise of high-tech manufacturing is going to create a new class of workers - smart, assiduous, passionate and adaptive - but it will be a working class nonetheless. Their expected salaries will be higher than blue collar workers had and they would easily fit into the middle class. The computerized, refined nature of their work will demand higher education, so a hierarchy of programs and schools will develop to churn out these professionals. Because they will be educated to understand the manufacturing process, as opposed to manual and monotonous duties at a workstation or assembly line, they will be upwardly mobile within their field of manufacturing and flexible to fill analogous positions in other fields. Most importantly, they will be irreplaceable, which will increase job security, long-term interest and investment in their professions, and bolster the workers’ pride - that’s no small feat!

The services will thrive too. For all the great recipes, workout routines, magic tricks and piano tunes YouTube can teach us, service professionals will remain exactly that: professionals. Those who are subpar now will need to become excellent or they will be individually displaced by competition, YouTube videos not excluded. This transition to digital and distant means that the service jobs - and industries - that remain will be significantly better, more accessible, consumer-friendly and hassle-free.

There will be medical services for all, starting with government health insurance that is mandated for low and lower middle class persons. To pay for this subsidized expense, there can be a federal fixed-rate income tax or a state fixed-rate income tax (depending on how the health care system is reformed) that would remove a significant but not unreasonable percentage of a person’s salary to pay for his/her adult medical services. Children would be insured by the federal government or the state on a mandatory basis (this would also put children of illegal immigrants on the map and assure adequate health provision) unless the parents have a combined income of $100,000 (my arbitrary pick) and can choose to opt out of the system, forego the tax and pay for private insurance.

As for immigrants, who also should have equal access to our health care system, they would enjoy the same benefits, with some residency requirements enforced (e.g. prior to receiving permanent resident status (accompanied by a document called “green card”), immigrants would have to copay, say, $30 for all visits and procedures unless otherwise determined by the doctor or the admitting hospital). Read: more expensive things like CT scans, endoscopies and surgeries would have proportionally higher copays. Today recent immigrants have access to a variety of programs and community services not available to long-time immigrants and citizens, so their occasional medical costs should be offset by money saved elsewhere. Again, all children, regardless of status, would be on a separate grid and have free medical services.

I’m getting tired of typing (mostly because I’m so damn slow at it), but if I care to share any more of my ideas about the America of tomorrow as I see it, I’ll post them right above and you’re free to critique them.

Looking forward to it... ;-)

- Dilettante