Change is hard. Rapid change is almost impossible and the wrenching confl icts that pressure society bring a bubbling brew that hopefully time will solve. The previous great change in this country was from agriculture to industry. In the 1950’s, Freestone County lost almost one third of its population as people moved to Dallas and Houston off the farms in order to make a living. However Ike was in the White House and the massive programs to blend the boys coming home after WWII created the great middle class that helped bridge the conflict.
Now we are in the midst of the conversion from industry to the those going up into the information age and those going down into the services. Unlike the previous change, this one is happening so fast society can’t adjust and there is a rage among the losers and disquiet among the winners. I remember travelling though Pittsburg in in 1978 as the antiquated steel mills were being closed up. Built early in the 1900’s they could not compete with the gleaming new mills in Europe and Japan. It took Pittsburg almost 30 years to rebuild around medical care and medical research. Now it is concerned about having to convert again.
The great political war over converting out of agriculture took place in 1896 in the contest between William Jennings Bryan, who made the famous Cross of Gold speech about whether money or people were most important, and William McKinley, representing capital and industry. Now we are into deciding politically the same question again.
