Two decades ago, I was told I should not fly anymore because of an inner-ear issue. Over the years, I have come to view that pronouncement as a blessing for multiple reasons.
Since then, I have crisscrossed the U.S. via train countless times — trains that often carry an economically challenged and diverse cross-section of passengers. These men, women and children, in my opinion, are decidedly more “educated,” aware and compassionate than the self-proclaimed intellectuals residing in elitist bubbles floating high over the power-centers of Washington, D.C., New York City and any other location where the half-of-one percent gather to dictate the future of the working class, the disenfranchised and small-town America.
Meeting such real people is the highlight of every single long-distance train trip. As one who grew up in abject poverty and was homeless often as a child, each journey reinforces the decency and character of these Americans, while also serving as a stark reminder of the daily struggles they face simply to survive.
The absolute lowlight of these long-distance train trips is the travel through what were once amazingly vibrant small towns — the backbones of their region, state and even our nation — and are now nothing more than ghost towns, with boarded-up stores, empty streets and distant memories of dreams of a better life. These towns were literally the personification of “Americana,” but are no more, many which had large minority or even minority-majority populations.
As the train thundered past the latest series of boarded-up stores and deserted streets, I closed my eyes for a second to imagine the town at its peak. People filling the town square, the local restaurants, the farmers market or the stands to watch their local high school football team play the crosstown rival. When I opened my eyes, the desolation continued unabated.
“Ah,” but many have said. “That’s progress. That’s simply the way it is.”
It may be “progress,” but at what cost?
I suspect that many in the elite power-centers of our nation never heard of these towns, never heard of the circumstances that killed them — and mostly never cared. Or worse, some in those power-centers were directly or indirectly involved in wielding the “inevitable progress” sword that killed the towns, the small businesses, the livelihoods and countless futures. Be it via “big box” stores, online shopping sites or deals made in D.C. in secret between lawyers and corporations on the ropes, these once vibrant small towns were vanished.
Business can be cut-throat, cold and merciless. Mega-businesses often purposefully lower their prices to crush the competition. Even if that competition is small town businesses or “mom and pop” establishments. Unfortunately, when such massive corporation seeks to destroy the lesser competition, the intended destruction flows out from those now vanquished “competitors” like a toxic waste, covering other small businesses intertwined with the targets of those massive corporations — be they local restaurants, gas stations, beauty shops or car dealerships. The ripples of bankruptcy and trail of “out of business” signs spread far and wide.
This is not about a trip down “memory lane” and wouldn’t it be “just swell” if everything could be like 1950s “Main Street” America. No. This is about small businesses destroyed, small towns extinguished, collectively millions of jobs lost and the lives of human beings simply looking to pay the bills and have some semblance of normal turned into nightmares of despair by “inevitable progress.”
Surely there is a lesson. Where is the line between merciless inevitable progress and the lives of those people torn apart by such “progress?” Who takes responsibility for the loss of these small towns and the pain experienced by those who once lived in them? Or again, is it just a shrug of the shoulders with the thought being, “not on my radar screen and not my problem”?
Well, what if it very quickly becomes your problem? What if “inevitable progress” now has your business, your career and your town in its crosshairs?
The irony here being that karma eventually plays no favorites and has a wicked sense of humor. Soon, the businesses and very careers of “shrug of the shoulders, not my problem” high-earning city-dwellers and “power-center” residents may be disappeared by the ruthless “inevitable progress” of artificial intelligence and robotics.
And when that happens, the tossed aside small-town victims of the previous wave of ruthless “inevitable progress” may have two immediate thoughts: “Where were you when we needed you” and “See you in the community soup kitchens, the AA meetings and the funeral homes, as we mourn those who could not take it anymore.”
“Inevitable progress” can come with a price tag so high and so disruptive that no one can afford it. Not even the elites existing in their bubbles of luxury high above the masses orchestrating such “progress.”
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.
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