Retaking the Work Ethic

In the world of today, I have personally noticed a steep decline in the American work ethic. This, of course, is not by accident. Once upon a time, the South was known to have the best work ethic in the country, to the point that even in the 1990s you could hear country songs on the radio about it. These days, you don’t hear much celebrating the working man. Again, this is also not an accident.

In the not-so-distant past, the American work ethic was unrivaled in the world, as well as, our dynamic innovation. After World War II, there was an explosive growth in the economy due to our “can do” attitude and other factors. Not only did the average man use his hands to build American civilization, but he also put his mind to it, and it was reflected in the quality of his goods and services.

Partially responsible for this was a system that was designed to crank out “advanced citizens” or, if you prefer it, high functioning people. The focus on creating high functioning citizens, and ones that could craft and maintain an advanced society (not just in terms of innovation or technology), started at a young age and was reinforced into early adulthood. Programs and organizations, like the Boy Scouts, focused on teaching manly virtues and ethics. Additionally, there were high school shooting teams, shop class, chemistry, engineering, physics, and a slew of other things that were responsible for bringing about the prosperity that was witnessed in “Old America.”

Naturally, these programs were largely dismantled by the leftist-controlled educational system (once they had firmly seized control of it). As such, the quality of citizens began to decrease. However, these skills are not entirely lost. They reside with the often-neglected Boomer generation. Unfortunately, as the Boomers die off, so will these valuable skills.

In part, that is why it is our responsibility to teach and hand down our skills to our sons, in absence of a formal system to do so. Without these skills, and pride in a job well done, we lose another sliver of our civilization and become less capable. Often you will hear people, who have at least some modicum of pride in their heritage and legacy, complain how we do not “do things” anymore, that we do not make things here anymore, and that we do not innovate on a large scale. They are not wrong. While this does still exist on a very small scale, it doesn’t come close to rivaling the American success during the post-war period.

These days, companies struggle to find employees to work in almost every industry; and when they do find people, retaining them is even harder. In fact, there is more demand for skilled labor than virtually any other industry right now, and it has never been a better time to get into the trades. You will always have a job as a skilled and professional laborer. Because of this, it works in your favor, and you can get better pay and benefits; with experience, you become even more valuable.

I cannot recall how many people I have run into (specifically, in my generation) that simply do not want to work, and some have even scolded me for holding a traditional job. I feel sad for them – they will never feel the satisfaction of sending a product out into the world that has their name on it, that directly contributed to something that isn’t in some virtual network, something that you can touch, see, hold, feel, and hear. They are not entirely to blame. As easy as it is to point the finger at them, they are the victims of a system that is intentionally working to disassemble Western society and our historical work ethic.

You cannot have an advanced society without advanced and productive citizens, and you cannot have the latter without either a formal or informal system to produce them. That is something that we, as dissidents, need to focus on preserving and promoting. Otherwise, the candle of civilization will slowly fade out. After all, there is no reason to import the Third World if you have plenty of your own citizens that are willing and capable of working. That is why having a career, and not just a job, is one of the most important things in a man’s life, aside from his family.

To this end, a pipeline must be established which a skilled worker hands down their skills to the next generation and, more importantly, uses those skills to start their own business. One of the more common excuses I’ve heard from people of my generation is, “Why should I work, when I can get paid the same to not work?” There is an easy answer to such a question: “You will never be fulfilled.”

That is not to say that work isn’t or won’t be stressful or difficult, but there is something extremely valuable that work and owning your own business forces you to do – budget your time. If you have nothing but time, it loses value. The less of it you have, the more valuable it becomes. Thus, the more inclined you will be to use it toward valuable endeavors. This is why you adopt a healthy work/life balance. If you don’t first set yourself up for success, then you can never hope to be successful (if not by accident or luck). The latter two are complete gambles that can ruin your life. However, the former is always a sure-fire bet, but it starts at a young age – which is why it is critical that we preserve programs that are responsible for arming our children with the tools to be successful.

Everyone fantasizes about winning the lottery, but I propose an alternative: instead of fantasy, why not go out and just make your dreams a reality? No one ever became successful by sitting on their butt all day waiting for success. Instead of tearing down our fellow Southerner, we should be reaching out to them and teaching them how to be successful by adopting a strong work ethic.

To be a leader, one must set an example. Lead the way forward to salvation and freedom by showing why the work ethic of old still holds value and truth. Show by example that a good day’s work can provide for a man’s family, as well as, material and mental satisfaction. A good work ethic uplifts and challenges others to do better. A working man takes care of not only himself and those around him, but his mind and his tools. The working man understands the value of sharpening his mind, in addition to the quality of his work.

It’s time we did better for ourselves and our people.

God bless you and God bless Dixie.