In Michigan, the site of so much recent economic pain, GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are pressing hard on the nostalgia button, reports POLITICO. They are shaking loose, or at least trying to, memories of what Detroit used to be.
However, those pain points might be too recent for the nostalgia strategy to pay off. All those foreclosed properties bear witness to when the U.S. auto industry stopped being the platform for creating and maintaining a middle class. Things are much better. However, it's a stretch to grab onto a mindset that it's morning in America for Michigan. As a nation we may never be that economically naive again to assume that we are sitting pretty. We want a leader who tells us that we can continue to move in the right directions to hold on to what we got now and maybe leverage it for growth.
Where nostalgia is an appropriate fit is when it's framed in an era long ago. In this era of fast time, World War I is long enough ago. We pine for the traditional values of honor and the social contract between employer and worker featured in "Downton Abbey." Also, we're transfixed with the about-to-change values of 1960s "Mad Men." Those dynamics happen in a safe form of yesterday. Both programs have been ratings homeruns.
Secondly, as the now-famous article in FAST COMPANY on Generation Flux hammers, nostalgia for the recent past is a dangerous mindset. A subtitle in the piece is "Nuke Nostalgia." For this very reason, more professionals are embracing Eastern philosophy such as Buddhism whose fundamental principle is "Everything changes." Longing for the affluence of the late 20th century and various professional bubbles can and do distract us for emerging opportunities.
Third, looking back can brand one as "old" in a economic culture tilted toward youth. Ageism has not been tamed. We experienced that in the outpouring of criticism of how 50ish Madonna shook her booty for the SuperBowl halftime.
The meme of the recovery is what can be put together. The form that takes will likely be very different from what was. Only fools don't realize that. The past is no longer prologue.
Comments