The dignity deficit: Reclaiming Americans’ sense of purpose

Donald Trump’s surprise victory on election night brought into the spotlight a phenomenon that had been simmering below the surface of the nation for years: the alienation, disaffection, and anger of the white working class. In a new article in Foreign Affairs, AEI President Arthur C. Brooks examines the root of this anger and explains that many poor Americans feel superfluous, unnecessary and unwanted. Brooks explains that to regain their dignity, these alienated Americans must feel needed, and that the government must find ways to make them more necessary – not just “help” them. This in turn translates into a policy agenda that is radically pro-work and about the development of human capital.

Among his key points:

• To be treated with dignity means being considered worthy of respect. We feel a sense of dignity when our own lives produce value for ourselves and others. Put simply, to feel dignified, one must be needed by others.
• While rural and exurban whites who possess few in-demand skills and little education are hardly the only vulnerable group in the United States today, they need our help in overcoming an acute dignity crisis. The demographic groups where work and family are collapsing are seeing huge increases in death due to suicide, alcoholism, and drug overdoses.
• If its goal is to instill dignity, the U.S. government does not need to find more innovative ways to “help” people; rather, it must find better ways to make them more necessary. The question for leaders, no matter where they sit on the political spectrum, must be, “Does this policy make people more or less needed—in their families, their communities, and the broader economy?”
• Establish tougher work requirements and commonsense limits on welfare policy that increase people’s incentives to seek employment without crushing them or their families.
• Don’t raise minimum wages – reduce them. This will help people trapped in long-term unemployment, making these vulnerable people more attractive to hire. Direct wage subsidies would then help increase these workers’ take-home incomes.
• Address the immigration program to control the flow of undocumented illegals who reduce wages in low-skill industries, and encourage legal immigration of high-skilled individuals.
• Radically expand access to vocational and technical training programs in order to fill the skills gap in the labor market.
• Legislators and officials should ensure that social policy encourages a stable family life, promotes strong communities, and rewards hard work, not idleness.

Read the full piece here.