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Americans’ unhappy birthday: 'Too much wrong right now'
By Pauline Arrillaga
Associated Press
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Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days.

Eighteen members of the volunteer organization’s Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation’s 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book-drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.

They beam through the Pledge of Allegiance, applaud each other’s good news — a house that recently sold despite Arizona’s down market, and one member’s valiant battle with cancer. “I didn’t die,” she says as the others cheer.

But then talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak.

They use words such as “terrified,” “disgusted” and “scary” to describe what one calls “this mess” we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.

One member’s son is serving his second tour in Iraq. Another speaks of a daughter who’s lost her job in the mortgage industry and a son in construction whose salary was slashed. Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas.

Joanne Kontak, 60, an elementary school lunch aid inducted just this day as an Optimist, sums things up like this: “There’s just entirely too much wrong right now.”

Happy birthday, America? This year, we’re not so sure.

The nation’s psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue.

These are more than mere gripes, but rather an expression of fears — concerns reflected not only in the many recent polls that show consumer confidence plummeting, personal happiness waning and more folks worrying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, but in conversations happening all across the land.

“There are so many things you have to do to survive now,” says Larue Lawson of Forest Park, Ill. “It used to be just clothes on your back, food on the table and a roof over your head. Now, it’s everything.

“I wish it was just simpler.”

Lawson, mind you, is all of 16 years old.

Then there’s this from Sherry White in Orlando, Fla., who has a half-century in years and experience on the teenager:

“There is a sense of helplessness everywhere you look. It’s like you’re stuck in one spot, and you can’t do anything about it.”

In 1931, when the historian James Truslow Adams coined the phrase “The American Dream,” he wrote of “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”

In 2008, using history as a yardstick, life actually is better and richer and fuller, with more opportunities than ever before.

“Objectively things are going real well,” says author Gregg Easterbrook, who discusses the disconnect in his book, “The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse.”

He ticks off supporting statistics: A relatively low unemployment rate, 5.5 percent in June. (Employers did, indeed, cut payrolls last month by 62,000 jobs, but consider the 10.1 rate of June 1983 or the 7.8 rate of June 1992.) Declining rates of violent crimes, property crimes and big-city murders. Declining rates of disease. Higher standards of living for the middle class and the working poor. And incomes that, for many, are rising above the rate of inflation.

So why has the pursuit of happiness — a fundamental right, the Declaration of Independence assures us — become such a challenging undertaking?

Some of the gloom and doom may simply reflect a society that demands more and expects to have it yesterday, but in many cases there’s nothing imaginary about the problems.

Just listen to farmer Ricardo Vallot, who is clinging tight to his livelihood.

Vallot expects to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on diesel fuel to plant and harvest his family’s sugar cane crop in Vermilion Parish, La. His two combines burn up to 150 gallons a day, and with diesel running an average $4.68 a gallon in the region, he sees his profits burning away, too.

“My God, it’s horrible, it really is,” the 33-year-old says, adding: “If diesel goes north of five, it will be really difficult at the price we’re getting to stay in farming.”

Stay-at-home-mom Heather Hammack grapples with tough decisions daily about how to spend her family’s dwindling income in the face of rising food costs. One day, she priced strawberries at $1.75. The next day, they were $2.28.

“I could cry,” she responds when asked how things are.

“We used to have more money than we knew what to do with. Now, I have to decide: Do I pay the electric this week? Do I pay for gas? Do I get groceries?” says Hammack, 24, who lives with her boyfriend, a window installer, and their 5-year-old son in a rented home in rural Rowlesburg, W.Va. “You can’t get ahead. You can’t save money. You can’t buy a house. It just stinks.”

Those “right direction, wrong direction” polls — the latest of which, in June, had only 14 to 17 percent of Americans saying the country is going the right way — show a general level of pessimism that is the worst in almost 30 years. Those feelings, coupled with government corruption scandals, lingering doubts over whether the Iraq war was justified, even memories of the chaotic response to Hurricane Katrina, have culminated in an erosion of our customary faith that elected leaders can get us out of a jam.

Says Arizona retiree Dian Kinsman: “You have no faith in anybody at the top. I don’t trust anybody, and I’m really disgusted about it.”

Stoking the furor is that Americans seem to feel helpless. After all, how can the average Joe or Jane control the price of gas or end the war?

“How am I, a little old West Virginia girl, going to go out and change the world?” asks Hammack.

Still, others suggest a lack of perspective and a sense of entitlement among Americans today may make these times feel worse than they are.

At 82, Ruth Townsend has experienced her share of downturns — in her own life and that of the country. She suffered a stroke years ago that left her in a wheelchair, and lives now in an assisted-living facility in Orlando, Fla. Townsend recalls World War II and having to ration almost everything: sugar, leather shoes, tires, gas.

“You made do with the little you had because you had to. You shopped in the same stores over and over because you HAD to. We had coupon books and stamps to figure out what we could have,” Townsend says. Americans have gotten so used to “things,” she says, “that we can’t take it when we hit a bad patch.”

Allison Alvin condemns an “out of style” values system, in which even kids have cell phones, credit card debt is out of control and families purchase four-bedroom homes they can’t afford instead of the two-bedroom ones they could.

“I’m mad at us ... all of my fellow Americans. Maybe a little hardship would be good for us,” says Alvin, who at 36 has a job as a freight exporter in Cincinnati, a husband with a factory job, two healthy children, her own home and four cars, all paid off.

At the same time, she acknowledges feeling that “things are getting worse.”

“When you’re my age, you feel like you should be improving — more financially stable, instead of hand-to-mouth. It doesn’t matter that we’re better off than (others). It still hurts. It’s still painful.”

Easterbrook ascribes some of this to the media, noting that talk of “crisis” has become almost trendy — especially in an election year when politicians and pundits alike seem to feed on discontent as a catalyst for change, or ratings.

Round-the-clock saturation, shouting commentators and ceaseless images of “whatever’s burning or exploding,” he says, “give you the impression that the whole world is falling apart.”

Perhaps that’s why one of the Arizona Optimists, Marilyn Pell, couldn’t help but raise her voice when referencing something she’d heard on the news: That gas prices might rise to $7 a gallon by 2010.

“What do you mean I’ve gotta pay $7 a gallon?” she exclaimed, even though it was just a prediction.

Perspective can vary, between the haves and have-nots.

In California’s Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest places, the nation’s housing crash can be seen as a healthy correction and a buying opportunity, and high gas prices are unpleasant, yes, but not unbearable.

Maybe it’s no surprise that at Ferrari Maserati of Silicon Valley, where $200,000 models are still being snapped up, sales manager Larry Raphael says, “We really haven’t been affected by what the media says is a low mood in the country.”

Yet in these rarefied ZIP codes, others are affected — even if they feel personally secure. “I worry about my gardeners and how they’re dealing with the cost of fuel, for example. Floods, fires, there are so many things going on that are going to cost everyone money,” says Suzanne Legallet of Atherton, Calif.

Whether things are going well or not, it is part of human nature to be dissatisfied with the present state of things, says Arthur Brooks, professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University and the author of “Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America — And How We Can Get More of It.”

“Very few Americans wake up in the morning and say, ‘This is an unbelievable country. I’m going to go to the supermarket, and there’s going to be food. When I go and vote, nobody’s going to beat me up,”‘ he says. “We’re horrible at appreciating the status quo. We’re really good at appreciating positive changes.”

With that in mind, then, Americans might take heart. Throughout our history, tough times have proved to be learning moments that provoked course corrections. The Civil War brought an end to slavery. Sit-ins and mass demonstrations prompted anti-segregation laws. Sept. 11 led to new anti-terrorism vigilance.

As Bob Dylan once said, “Chaos is a friend of mine.”

At least it can be.

Perhaps, out of these trying days, we may see a more comprehensive energy policy, a sooner-than-later resolution of the war and, even, a more profound sense of personal responsibility — the motivation we needed to spend within our means, or make use of car-pool lanes and mass transit.

It’s happening already, in big ways and small.

Hammack planted a garden of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots. “If I can save a few bucks,” she says, “I’m going to.”

In Louisiana, Vallot buys fuel in bulk now and is looking at ways other farmers might pool together to bring the cost of diesel down further. “We have to take matters into our own hands,” he says.

Many have, and that certainly erases some of the helplessness that begets despair. But Americans also must recognize that happiness — the stuff that truly fulfills and gratifies — comes not from what we own but who we are, says Dr. David Burns, a psychiatrist at Stanford University’s School of Medicine.

“We tend to base our self-esteem on certain things that we think we need to be worthwhile as human beings. A lot of us base it on achievement, intelligence, productivity. Our sense of self-esteem gets tied up with our career, our income. So when things start reversing, you begin to feel like less of a person.”

Nevertheless, says Burns, “Where joy comes from is a completely different place.”

For Ernestine Leach, it’s keeping the faith that this, too, shall pass.

“I think that it’s so deeply rooted in us,” the 59-year-old substitute teacher says on a recent Sunday as sunlight filters through a stained-glass window at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. “It’s all that most Americans ... have ever known: That things did get better.”

Her minister, the Rev. Dumas Harshaw Jr., has noticed some new faces in his pews as troubles deepen. He senses that more Americans are “in a wilderness, psychologically and spiritually,” and “are trying to find grounding.”

As Harshaw tells his congregation, we Americans are in a “season of testing.”

Katy Neild, the Arizona Optimist whose son fights on in Iraq, understands that better than most. She worries about her child, and about the many other dilemmas confronting Americans.

“Did I cringe when I filled my car last week? Yes,” she says. “But 100 years from now, if I were still alive, would I really care that I paid $4 a gallon for gas? No. I care my grandbaby is safe and she’s well and she has a good place to live.

“Your joy can’t be about your circumstances.”

As she says this, the other Optimists nod in agreement. Then their president, Susan Kruse, begins reciting one of the 10 tenets of the “Optimist Creed,” and the others soon join in, their smiles returning.

“Forget the mistakes of the past,” they chime in unison, “and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”

In the end, that’s what the Optimists do. They get their troubles off their chests, debate possible solutions — and then move on to doing what they can to make some positive changes in their communities, and in their own lives.

A birthday lesson for all Americans, perhaps.

Contributing to this report were AP Writers Allen G. Breed, Martha Irvine, Todd Lewan, Martha Mendoza, Vicki Smith and Becky Bohrer.

Take a look
In this May 2, 2008 file photo, a shopper walks past a business in downtown Blue Island, Ill., with a window sign courting customers. The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. The Independence Day holiday is typically a time to honor all that we are as a nation, but the feeling is there's less to celebrate on this our 232nd birthday. Happy? It would seem not. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, file)
In this June 27, 2008 file photo, a person pulls a gas pump from his vehicle after filling his tank in Philadelphia.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)
Jerry Neild, left, inducts Joanne Kontak, second from left, and another woman, unidentified at the far right, as members of the Optimist Club of Gilbert, Ariz., on Saturday, June 28 as Optimist Marilyn Pell, second from right, looks on. The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. (AP Photo/Pauline Arrillaga)
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Reader comments on this story - 24 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Super Grover wrote on Jul 6, 2008 2:47 PM:

" America is AWESOME !!!!!!!!!
Unhappy with The USA ??
Try a muslim or Communist country for a month......
America is the BEST BY FAR !!!!!!!!
The democrats are unhappy because they will lose the President election again...
To them I say : HA HA !!!!!!!!! "

Max Sniler wrote on Jul 6, 2008 12:33 PM:

" ES: The democrats have had the congress for 2 years now, and what have they done for "the PEOPLE"? Congress is where the real power is, not the White House. I'd be a lot more interested in the Democratic party if it went back to its roots of workers rights etc...instead of pandering to special interest groups and the left wing fringe. All these social programs that dole out funds without any action required just keep people down and continue the cycle of generational guarenteed voters. That's all its about now, and guess what? You don't feel good about yourself when you don't earn what you've got. Perhaps this article is about those folks? "

iknowit wrote on Jul 6, 2008 10:59 AM:

" BC: Amongst your ranting of "facts" you say..."and pay very little tax." What do you mean by this? Do you pay 35% INCOME tax like me? (No, this is not social security or other payroll tax--that's extra) I doubt it. Did you start your own business and/or now work 60-70 hrs a week like me? I doubt it. You and many like you sit around and bemoan the more financially successful around you. Quit bitchin and do something besides complaining and quit worrying about how you are being jipped. I give 10% of my income to charity and volunteer. And I'm not alone...most of the "upper income" folks do support charities more than you know... but they don't sit around and talk about it, they DO it. I love this country and it's opportunities for everyone who wants to take advantage of them. I hate those who only complain. "

Dave wrote on Jul 6, 2008 10:34 AM:

" How would the average person spend three weeks serving in the peace corps in some third world country? If the average person missed three weeks pay they'd lose their homes, cars and be bankrupt..
If times were better and we didn't have to work until May to pay taxes then some of us would love to volunteer time to help others.
The people who can afford to do it, don't.
If things keep deteriorating, it won't be too many years until we are the third world country.
I've seen this day coming since back in the 70's. Study European history. There are things that can be learned. "

Dave wrote on Jul 6, 2008 10:29 AM:

" For those who think things are better now than the past, read the other article in today's Pantagraph about how employers can use a loop hole in the law to deny surviving dependents the right to collect their dead partners benefits.
This is just one small piece of news that is repeated in hundreds of situations today that assure the rich get richer and the needy get pooped on.
As the article say, Bush don't care. His buddies are getting rich so that's all there is to it. When you folks with your rose colored glasses finally wake up, it's going to be too late. We will be a nation of lords and subjects. In a way, I wish it would hurry up and get here so there will be an unquestionable reason for a revolution. Plus, it's going to be rewarding to see all you optimistic fools standing in the soup line. "

JUDE wrote on Jul 6, 2008 9:27 AM:

" Everything that has been fought for, died for, and worked for has all been distroyed by our own elected leaders. Yet WE allow their lies to sink into our brains and WE just elect them over and over again. WE have allowed them to brainwash us, use us, and worse of all divide us. They and their greed has set this country back a hundred years to the point that for anything now we want to change WE will have to fight for it all over again. Are we made of the same stuff as those who fought in the begining were made of? Are we going to waite until we are all on the streets before standing together once again. Time will tell just what kind of Americans we are. "

Mike wrote on Jul 6, 2008 9:19 AM:

" Moon-mullins, you need to move on, how do you function with all that negativity? As far as respect for the US here is how I gauge that; I am FOR anything the UN is against and anytime the UN says something negative about us, I know were on the right track. I am VERY proud of "old glory" and feel lucky every day I wake up and realize where I live. "

ES wrote on Jul 6, 2008 9:11 AM:

" Ask yourself this question (to paraphrase a line from a former Republican President) are you better off now than you were eight years ago? No? Me neither. Go Barrack Obama; let's retake the White House and give it back to the PEOPLE. "

Jarhead71 wrote on Jul 6, 2008 8:35 AM:

" Worried about their gardners??? I am my gardner. The vast majority of Americans do not have gardners. This whole set of economic woes is to decrease the middle class and make a greater separation between the haves and the have nots. It will make for fewer cars on the hiways so the haves can speed along in their gas guzzling SUVs at 90 MPH unencumbered by poor folks trying to conserve fuel. It will mean fewer economic climbers to infringe on the old money power brokers in power in the USA. Anyone that accuses Obama of elitism needs to wake up and smell the roses while common people can still grow them. "

BC wrote on Jul 6, 2008 8:25 AM:

" Max
You are quite correct about leeches bleeding this country. It's a sad day when 10% of the citizens hold 90% of the wealth, and pay very little tax. This is not the American dream. By all means force all who receive government assistance do a couple weeks public service, send them all at one time. Then the rest of you could mop hospital floors, carry food to loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals. I'm sure you would be first in line to volunteer in and institutional laundry. No retail store could remain open. Day cares would close. The greed that fuels the plight of those third world countries has gotten a toe hold in our government. Our infant mortality rate ranks with some third world countries. We lead industrialized countries in child hunger. Blind patriotism is like sticking your head in the sand. The way to control a nation is to keep it's citizens fighting and blaming each other. By the posts it's obvious the process is well under way. "

moon mullins wrote on Jul 6, 2008 7:09 AM:

" There is a difference between the Clinton and Bush W. administrations. Clinton knew when to back down on an unpopular subject. He was intelligent and a great orator. He sent our troops into Serbia with the United Nations to Quickly end their genocidal attacks on the breakaway republics. His out of contol sex life was disgusting, but so was the Republican Congress' focus on it at the expense of imporant legislation. And the world admired the U.SA. and Bill Clinton. Canada and Mexico might not be perfect, but they provide free college education and health care. There is a Mexico beyond the border towns. A solidly happy middle class. However, I'm still proud to be American. We will get our country back in order. We always have. "

floyd wrote on Jul 6, 2008 7:04 AM:

" moon mullins. You should look who has been running both the House and Senate for over a year and a half now and have basically done absolutely NOTHING! "

cats55ire wrote on Jul 6, 2008 2:08 AM:

" HELLO PEOPLE (some people) . . .

Did you actually think prices would go down or even stay the same? Do you who are parents realize that each child you have will cost you more and more to raise? Young people and those who bought houses thinking it was "cool"--pls. consider going without something. Or better yet, talk to people in their 80s or even 90s who lived through the depression And if you don't know what the Depression was or what happened--well, you're in deep trouble!!!!! "

Max Sniler wrote on Jul 6, 2008 12:27 AM:

" Moon: My flag flies regardless of the person occupying the office. Otherwise I would have lost my mind during the Clinton years....America is bigger than the office of the president, congress, or any of the other leeches bleeding America dry. Is bigger than OPEC, big oil, special interest groups, lobbyist, bigger than all the people standing around waiting for some government check. AMERICA is about the people in it, and the American dream. That dream is lost on the person writing this artical, and that's a shame. Shame on them for wasting our time here. Yeah, like some of you said on this post. Go down to some border town in Mexico, or Honduras, Africa, etc...you'll get a clue for a while until the next season of TV kicks in. "

moon mullins wrote on Jul 5, 2008 11:26 PM:

" Things may have been worse before, but this chaotic condition we are in just wasn't necessary. Bush/Cheney lied us into an endless war with Iraq while allowing Osama Bin Laden escape. One Trillion of our tax dollars down the toilet. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I don't wave old glory any more and won't until we have a government that respects Americans and the world. "

jipsi wrote on Jul 5, 2008 8:43 PM:

" to Rivers:

THAT was a GREAT comment! LOL
Thanks for the smile, "Max"...

to buckeye:
I AGREE, and would go one step further: Every American should be required to SERVE as an unpaid AID WORKER for two to four weeks every five years, as you said, "in some 3rd world crap hole so they realize... etc."
IF that American is on any government (state or federal) "assistance" program, and is physically ABLE, they should be expected to do the above, but for four weeks every YEAR they're on assistance.

Just my 2 cents... "

MRS. wrote on Jul 5, 2008 8:16 PM:

" Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day. I did, as I always do. I agree with Max Sniler. I have a niece that makes 15.00 an hour and has 3 children. Thankfully she does get child support for the kids. She just bought a 109 K home with an ARM. We tried to explain to her that she may have a lower mortgage now but when it goes up 2000.00 a month she won't be able to pay it. We told her that is what is happening now and people are losing their homes. She is young and very independent until she gets in trouble then it is everyone else's job to get her out of it. I have owned several homes and it isn't the American dream anymore, it is more like the American nightmare. What use to be a sign of maturity and responsibility has turned into a have to keep up and be better than you idea. What is wrong with denying credit to those that are not able to be responsible? "

Max Sniler wrote on Jul 5, 2008 7:07 PM:

" I'm supposed to feel sorry for a 24 year old window installer with a 5 year old kid - because he can't buy a house? Are you people nuts? So gas is up, which drives everything else up. This causes an economic slow down. This is not the end of the world folks. You AP people need to get a new hobby besides selling doom and gloom. AND ANOTHER THING! Once the news media became a profit center, the news went to sensationalizm. Lots of garbage speculation about what might happen instead of reporting what HAS happened. I watch very little news because of this, and I feel GREAT! "

Rivers wrote on Jul 5, 2008 6:59 PM:

" When I'm in a 1985 blown Camaro being chased down I-55 for my gas by the lead singer of Rancid on a beat up BMW bike, I will admit things are bad. Until then, I'll hold tight. "

The Cat wrote on Jul 5, 2008 4:17 PM:

" You can tell it's election season and the main scream media is trying to help out the Donkeys and Obummer. I don't remember bad press like this in past elections with a Donkey incumbent even with Peanuthead's "misery index" and Iran hostage crisis. "

Zeva wrote on Jul 5, 2008 3:25 PM:

" Americans need to band together an bring this country to a halt. Stop everything, until politicians realize we are not going to stand for this while they keep taking our money and raises for themselves. Everything for Americans is going in the pit and for them it's going on a cruise. Why are Americans standing idly by while for them it's going on as business as usual? Do you see any of them hurting? Blo-go running around in his flying bat mobile using our money to do it, and the rest using our money to drive where necessary without nary a thought to the American public struggling. Their is a rat in the woodpile and it's taking everything we earn. "

buckeye wrote on Jul 5, 2008 1:19 PM:

" Every American should be required to take a two week vacation every five years to some 3rd world craphole so they realise how great we have it here in the USA. "

gad wrote on Jul 5, 2008 12:44 PM:

" another story on malaize, thanks ap! "

Burns wrote on Jul 5, 2008 12:30 PM:

" Things have been worse. And Americans have pulled through. And will again. "
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