A New National Narrative

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One of the things that shocked me and really shook me [before writing the book] was reading a poll that said almost two-thirds of the American people felt that our future would not be as great as our past. I saw that and wanted to shout out, That’s un-American! It’s totally the opposite of what defines us. When you go back and see what historians, sociologists, and others have written, they often judge the strength of a society by how much it believes in its future.

You’ve argued that the middle class is the glue that holds society together. How is that class changing for better and for worse?

Well, the fate of that class is a real hot spot of anger right now. The group that’s gone from optimistic to pessimistic is made up of middle-class people who either find themselves on the verge of falling down or already have. It’s shrinking to such a terrible extent. We literally doubled the purchasing power of the average American family in the 28 years following World War II, and it’s been flat or declining ever since. Consider the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Carter, and Ford administrations: All through that whole period, the top 10 percent of the country had about 30 percent of the income; now they have 50 percent. The top one-tenth of 1 percent averaged a $4 million increase in their incomes last year, while the bottom 90 percent lost purchasing power. As the New York Times recently wrote on their editorial page: It’s been the greatest misdistribution of income since 1929. And it didn’t end well that time.

You also point out that the lower middle class is less economically mobile. What does all of this do to us as a country?

It translates into cynicism. And cynicism is corrosive. The good news is that, just in the past few months, we’ve seen the beginnings of one of the healthiest elections in recent memory. People are getting off their sofas again. Young people are starting to feel like they can get involved.

Do today’s young people, especially those you encounter at the University of Oklahoma, still believe in an American Dream? Do they even think in those terms anymore?

I think they do, but their dream strikes me as much less materialistic. They want to live in a place where people respect each other without regard to their differences—racial, religious, or whatever it might be. They want to live in a safe place. They want to have enough to give their children good educations and opportunities, of course, but it’s a more modest economic dream than their parents’ and grandparents’ generations, which tended to measure success materially.

Today’s young people have the opportunity to be the greatest generation yet. They want to be better stewards. Part of their American Dream involves a country that’s more environmentally healthy, more pristine. And, maybe most importantly, they really want to recreate community.

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