Decline from "summary" of The Unwinding by George Packer
The decline was everywhere, although no one could say exactly when it began. It was a gradual erosion, a slow fading of the American dream. People felt it in their bones, saw it in their neighborhoods, heard it in the stories of their friends and family. The factories closed, the jobs moved overseas, the wages stagnated. The middle class shrank, the gap between rich and poor widened. The institutions that once held society together – the churches, the unions, the schools – seemed to be crumbling. As the decline deepened, people began to lose faith in the future. They no longer believed that their children would have a better life than they did. They no longer trusted their leaders to do what was right for the country. They no longer felt connected to their fellow citizens, their fellow human beings. They were adrift in a society that no longer seemed to care about them, a society that valued money over everything else. The decline was not just economic, although that was a big part of it. It was also social, cultural, political. The old values – hard work, community, fairness – were being replaced by something darker, something more selfish, more ruthless. People no longer felt that they were all in this together, that they had a stake in each other's success. They felt alone, isolated, powerless. And yet, amid all this decline, there were still moments of hope, of resilience, of renewal. People came together to fight for what they believed in, to push back against the forces of greed and indifference. They found strength in each other, in their shared struggles, in their shared humanity. They refused to give up, to give in, to accept the decline as inevitable. The decline was real, but so was the possibility of change, of redemption, of a new beginning. It would not be easy, it would not be quick, but it was still possible. The unwinding had taken its toll, but it had also revealed the strength and the spirit of the American people. They had been knocked down, but they were not out. They could still rise again, if only they had the courage, the will, the faith to do so.
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