An Inconvenient Truth, This is America

by John Van Dyke

It is who we are, what we have become, and it is not the America many remember.

We are no longer the upwardly mobile middle class America, with working class families working at the plant, or the farm, making or growing American stuff. The Middle American towns, “Mayberry America,” are dead. We are confusing earned rights with entitlements. And frankly, an older generation, mostly doesn’t give a shit about the environment, equality, immigrants, and anything other than surviving and holding on to what they have.

While many are aging out, holding on to whatever they can, a younger generation sees a different America. Different values and concerns, and ideas just forming about what is good for country and themselves. I haven’t even mentioned technology. A truth, Baby Boomers are no longer the future and it is painful to watch how they cope with change. Politics on both sides shines a light on this.

Americans have just stood up and raised their voice in record setting numbers. The details have yet to come in, but clearly it is a statement about who we are, or have become. This is our America.

I have been talking with Americans for the last three years, documenting conversations with strangers I meet around the country. We clearly do not understand each other and the impact technology has had on shaping and controlling our lives. An American Mosaic