In wake of election – facing realities of post-industrial America

Let’s look past the pathos that has surrounded Trump from the very beginning of the 2016 Presidential Election. Let’s look past the policies of Trump’s running mate Pence and focus on the grave divorce of our nation.

More than half of the country didn’t agree with Trump becoming president according to the popular vote. This divide is stemming from how we view America, where it has been, and where it’s going.

America has grown over the last century; surviving two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and the tragedy of 9/11. The biggest transition in the last century was the nation’s shift from an industrial to a post-industrial society.

One of Trump’s platforms was to bring back factories from China, which would be bringing back our industrial period.

“Great! Bring jobs back to America!”

Logistically, this plan can’t happen.

China has become infamous for its lack of morals when it comes to the environment and global warming. Not only has it effectively proved to be a “sanctuary” for America’s outsourcing of factories in the past few decades, but also took our staggering amount of pollution with it as well.

Because of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Acts of 1972 and 1963, respectively, taking back our pollution as it is, is illegal.

Now let’s look at the costs of items if brought back to the US.

The lowest minimum wage in China is 11 Yuan per hour, which equates to about 1.60 US Dollars. Because of the extremely low minimum wage, that keeps our products that we outsource that are sold in America relatively cheap.

In a world where our factories would be primarily domestic, prices would be astronomical compared to the ones we have now, due to the fact that we would have to pay our workers at least $7.25 an hour.

Illegal Immigrants have also been a hot button issue of Trump’s campaign. These, usually Mexican or South American individuals, are one of the limited demographics in America that can be paid under our legal minimum wage.

This group is the proletariat of our times, working the most unfavorable jobs in our society that no one else would “stoop” to that level to do.

Those jobs, usually lawn and field work, would have fallen to teenagers in past decades; however, today’s teenagers have adopted a mentality of entitlement. They won’t work labor intensive jobs, but they will seek jobs that pay $8 to $10 an hour, such as waiters or waitresses.

As a society, we have left the industrial era behind. Theoretical knowledge has taken precedence to practical know-how.

Schools seem to focus on teaching us math, English, and science, in order to find jobs in those fields, bringing about a continual increase in growth within that economic sector.

The sector of coal miners and factory workers that Trump wants to bring back will inevitably disappear, because America as a people, America as the wondrous, amorphous entity, Lady Liberty, cannot go back in time.

In America’s case, the only place to go is up, regardless of who is in the White House.