Sorry for the hiatus, between vacation and a cold this blog has fallen to the wayside.

I have been contemplating what to write for this post and have vacillated between warning of worker /social manipulation and the reemergence of popular movements from our own social past. So I will try both.

Not too long ago the vast majority of blue collar workers in the country worked under what would be best described as “sweatshop” conditions. My own Great Grandmother and Great-Great Uncle where sold to a textile mill at 8-10 years of age. They lived worked and ate at the mill, my Great Grandmother worked there until my Great Grandfather bought her contract when she was 15. My Grandfather worked for a sawmill, that provided you with a home, store, utilities and any other service that they chose to provide you, but they did not pay you enough that you could leave.

It was really only after World War II that conditions which most Americans worked in greatly improved. As the economy continues its downward journey, and U.S. companies face ever increasing competition from other countries that do not have to be concerned with workplace safety, the pressure will increase to decrease the regulations that have so greatly improved our work lives.

The people most vulnerable to this type of exploitation will be those with no marketable skills. Unfortunately most of us do not have marketable skills in what amounts to a 1930-50’s economy. We are not machinists, carpenters, architects, mechanics, woodworkers, or any other of the myriad of jobs our parents and grandparents had. I really don’t think that there will be a high demand for Laboratory Information Management Systems Administrators 20 years from now.

If your job is reliant on complex technology or have expensive infrastructure that is necessary for your workplace function, then you might want to start thinking about a hobby that will be useful in the future. You can also take steps to make you home more energy efficient, find a local food supply and prepare for rolling brown and blackouts that may come as energy demand outstrips energy supply.

I do fear my sons and grandchildren having to work under similar conditions that my great grandmother worked under. This is the main reason that I am endeavoring to have a farm for my sons to inherit. One of the reasons that my great grandfather was able to buy my great grandmother was the fact that he had 160 acres of productive farmland. He might have been cash poor but his farm was able to supply most of his wants and needs including providing him with a wife.

My father counts some of the happiest days of his childhood were the ones when he lived on his grandfather’s farm. And I would like to provide those same kinds of memories to my grandchildren as well as giving my family a means to support themselves that is independent of others (as much as that is possible).

The other factor is increased social/racial violence as the American concept of Manifest Destiny is defeated. We are already seeing this in those who do not believe that our first black President is a natural born citizen, and tougher laws against illegal immigrants and for legal immigration. As the American Southwest stops being dominated by White Anglo Saxons Protestants and whites across the nation loses their once dominate status, we will see more racial strife.

These social upheavals will become more pronounced as our economy and standard of living decreases. The best defense against this is to have a resilient community where neighbors know each other and work together. This will become ever more essential as local communities can no longer to pay for the maintenance of local infrastructure, like sewage and garbage pickup. It is only by working together can communities prevent the type of disease outbreaks (cholera, typhus etc...) that where once common.

We really need to pay attention to the social cues that are around us and that we ourselves give off. It is only by being socially aware that we can prevent much of the violence and oppression that haunted my great grandparents lives.