The Character of Work

One of the greatest clashes in culture today centers on the idea of work. While many “new media” outlets express support for the values of effort and merit, many of the old liberal media bastions seem to be laser focused on class-warfare and victimhood.

Yet, at the core of this tension rests a simple premise that is often forgotten: hard work isn’t just an essential principle because of what it allows us to accomplish. It is also important because of the person it empowers us to become along the way.

In contrast to this truth, progressive economic ideals largely focus on outcomes. Unfortunately, free-market apologists often fail to advocate beyond these grounds as well. It is, of course, true that free-market capitalism is the absolute best approach for the generation of wealth and for the opportunity to climb the economic ladder and achieve success in the marketplace, regardless of the starting point or status. History illustrates that every other economic system has failed to achieve these same results, time and time again.

However, results are not the entire picture. Work, which is the building block of a free-market economy, isn’t simply beneficial to individuals because of what they can achieve, it is critical to who they can become as human beings.

Scientific research consistently affirms the power of employment to improve our physical and mental health, as well as the negative impact that unemployment can have on our health outcomes. Furthermore, Harvard Medical School has even reported on the many benefits of working later in life and the positive impact it can have on aging adults. Ironically, this season of life is precisely when society tells us that employment should be least expected.

Yet, while the science seems to be “settled” on the benefits of employment and the detrimental effects of unemployment, our politics seems to flip the script and demean those trying to incorporate the benefit of work into society. This rejection of labor’s importance is especially evident in the current political discussions taking place in Washington and states across the country.

For example, conservatives have long supported work requirements for able-bodied adults seeking certain welfare benefits. Recently, budget discussions in Washington have caused these issues to resurface in headlines. Liberal media critics have attacked Republicans for the simple idea that if someone has no dependents and is physically able to work, volunteer, or even just get training, then they should be required to do so if they want to qualify for certain benefits. The partisan critics forget that these common-sense ideas used to be quite bipartisan.

For instance, Democrat President Bill Clinton signed the 1996 welfare reform law that created new work requirements for certain welfare benefits. In fact, then Senator Joe Biden was one of the 78 Senators, among half of Democrats in the chamber, who voted for the bill. As conservative advocates have pointed out and the Congressional Record confirms, Biden said at the time: “I have argued that welfare recipients should be required to work…. Today, I think everyone here believes that work should be the premise of our welfare system.”

From his own words, not only did the former Democrat leader once believe in work requirements, but he also placed work at the center of our welfare system itself. Sadly, the Left has largely abandoned these values.

The good news is that most Americans, Republican and Democrat, still support the idea of work requirements. For example, a poll just released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (not a conservative organization) states that 62 percent of Americans support work requirements to get health insurance through Medicaid. More than 80 percent of Republicans support the idea.

Yet, the slow abandonment of work’s value in our politics over the last few decades highlights the importance of halting the desertion of the value within our culture before it’s too late. One way that we can help stop this deterioration is to allow others to see the importance of work within our own personal lives – to let people see the diligence, the dignity, and the resilience that it creates within us. In terms of replication of these values, vocation matters far less than devotion. Rhetoric is just rarely as impactful as firsthand experience.

In the age of technology, it is easy to skip steps in practically every task and simply focus on achieving our desired goal. However, without an understanding of the processes that make our world run, little can be replicated in the future. That is why I believe it is important for the next generation to see our works in progress – not just our finished products – so that our skills and labor can be passed on and appreciated to a much greater degree. In the end, if we want to save the American work ethic, the ideal must once again be part of our national character, rather than just a tool ready for use when we deem necessary.