It’s Labor Day Weekend and I thought it appropriate to reflect on the attitude towards work in our country. While our country’s origins emanate from Puritans who equated hard work with the glorification of God, those who came after and founded the country were equally devoted to work (if more for community and personal gain, with a good dose of exploitation thrown in for good measure). So it is no wonder that the political classes that were formed through the centuries placed a high value and reverence to hard work. And that messaging, crass and craven as it has been at times (when politicians celebrate workers but support policies that eliminate their ability to achieve the American Dream), has made its way around the world. So much so that we have been a magnet for immigrants who want to work hard to achieve opportunity for themselves and their families. Work is not simply part of the identity of individual Americans – it is engrained in our collective American identity.

It is under this backdrop that we are led by a set of politicians who appear to have a total disregard for the value of work. They have implemented policies that demean workers and ignore their striving for a better life. The members of the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln feel it when they are forced to fight for our country with unsanitary conditions and insufficient food/supplies. The working poor feel it when they are eligible for medical and SNAP benefits but have insane paperwork requirements to get them (and when the states managing those programs are discouraged from approving the benefits for fear of audit penalties accompanied with paperwork processing errors). Federal workers feel it when they are laid off only to be rehired a few months later (or begged back), because the government agencies that let them go can’t operate without them. The beef ranchers feel it when the government chooses to import beef from Argentina (to prop up an ally there), resulting in depressed beef prices here that make their efforts to stay in business unsustainable. The soybean farmers feel it when unilateral tariff actions against China result in the Chinese sourcing their soybean needs elsewhere.

Work is a means to an end – a better life for our families, and a retirement to be enjoyed. But when the President says that complaints about affordability are fake or that higher gas prices are immaterial (despite the additional $43B they have cost Americans) he is diminishing the value of the American Dream for workers. When the President prioritizes AI data center development over the water rights and utility capacity of residents, with no plan to regulate AI and its impacts on employment, he is telling communities that their American Dream doesn’t matter. The President says that Americans aren’t working hard enough, have too many holidays. The head of Medicare (Dr Oz) wants Americans to work one extra year to help the economy (although only 3% in aggregate) – because working longer needs to be the new American Dream (or at least the dream of the billionaire investors on Wall St who would benefit the most). This is the disrespect our government has for American labor.

So is it any wonder that the labor participation rate (the % of working aged Americans working) is falling faster than one would expect from demographic shifts? Why remain in a workforce that government leaders disrespect? Those who can, get out. Leaving the rest to wonder what their ethos for hard work has gotten them and where the respect for their efforts have gone.

And the national disgrace continues…