As the controversy rages around President Biden and whether he should continue to run for re-election I feel it is the right time to write a post from my perspective on the country that proclaims itself the “Land of the Free”.
My Experience of America:
Many British people choose to come to the US on holiday spending a couple of weeks enjoying the theme parks or shopping in New York. I was, however, fortunate to visit the USA last year, traveling through eighteen states in total. From Chicago to LA on Route 66 and then up the eastern seaboard from Florida to New York. We met a huge variety of people and enjoyed some wonderful local cuisine en route.
Prior to this trip other travels have taken me to New Orleans (when Trump was campaigning to be President against Hilary Clinton) and I have also driven Highway 1 from San Francisco down to LA twice with many stops in between.
I’m not a fan of LA but seem to have still been there on another two occasions once prior to heading up to Yosemite and another time before driving down to Tucson and staying on a ranch in Arizona close to the Mexican border.
I’ve taken my children to Florida and Disneyland, had the pleasure of driving the Florida Keys and spent time in the cities of Washington, Philadelphia and Las Vegas. I do feel that this combination of travel experience has opened me up more to the actual American way of life from small town America to cosmopolitan cities.
The first thing I noticed as a Brit was how diverse the states are. Coping with not only changes in time zones but people’s religious and political beliefs which was quite an eye opener. I am also used to a country where everyone follows the same laws and not a country where different laws apply depending upon which state you are in at the time.
One of the most regular proclamations I saw was “America: Land of the Free”. It appeared on posters and billboards, t.shirts, caps and even on restaurant menus. But is America “the land of the free”?
Freedom of Choice:
Back last July we were driving our very last section of Route 66 towards Santa Monica pier. We had left our accommodation in Pasadena in the morning for the final 27 mile stretch. The route takes you down Santa Monica Boulevard (yes the one from the song!). It was a Saturday morning and whilst the road was already becoming busy it was just full of normal folk going about their day. Then suddenly having driven across a small intersection we were in cardboard city. The street was lined with tents and cardboard/tarpaulin shelters. People were sitting or lying on the benches alongside the roadside. What was even more evident was that a lot of these people looked like you or I. They didn’t look dirty or drug ravaged they just looked like they simply had nowhere to live but on the street. What is happening here?
The answer lies in the homeless problem that is beginning to sweep the Western World. As people give up on the dream of ever buying their own property they move out into rental properties. As a result in large metropolitan cities where there is little or no room to further expand, demand often far outstrips supply and, as a result, rents increasingly rise which in turn causes an economic layering effect with those on the highest wages often at the top and those on low income at the bottom.
As of July 2024, for example, the average rent in Santa Monica, CA is $2,997 per month. This is 95% higher than the national average rent price of $1,534/month. This makes Santa Monica one of the most expensive cities in the US to live.
The minimum wage in California is currently $16.00/hour to be paid by all employers. So if you work 40 hours a week you earn roughly $2560 per month, less than the average rent.
But what if your family and friends all live here? What if your job is here? Furthermore what if your wages are not staying in line with these rental increases and so to move out further becomes impossible because you simply don’t have the additional disposable income to pay fares to travel in and out each day? The answer is you struggle every day and you live on that very fine line between survival and destitution. The sad part of that is you could quite easily fall into homelessness through no fault of your own and there doesn’t appear to be anyone there waiting to catch you.
This might sound dramatic but if a tenant doesn’t pay rent when it is due, the landlord can give the tenant a three-day notice to pay rent or quit (move out).
All it takes is one unforeseen issue. Maybe the tenant loses his or her job through no fault of their own, maybe their employer just goes out of business. Maybe someone becomes sick and the wages into the household suddenly drop. It’s a very precarious line to walk when you are so strapped for cash.
“Crossing the thin line”
The homeless population has increased in Santa Monica by 15% against the previous year and from what I saw a lot of these people are not what everyone envisages when they think about the homeless. They were neatly dressed, some even had children! They simply cannot find affordable accommodation and so have no choice but to create homes for themselves and their families on the streets.
This phenomenon isn’t, unfortunately, new to me. When I managed a club in East London back in the late nineties (before the Olympic Games brought a total regeneration of this area) I had a couple of guys who worked for me who had no fixed abode. I used to let them come into work early each day and use the shower attached to my office so they could at least wash and dress in their uniform. They would then eat from the on site diner at staff subsidised rates. They were both earning a wage and trying their hardest to get the money together for a deposit on a flat.
The fountains in cities that provide the homeless places to wash in the early morning light of dawn
Back in Santa Monica when we drove across the next main intersection we were into another world altogether. The pavements were now full of young millennials and Gen Z spending their Saturday morning exercising in the glass fronted gyms, shopping with their friends or sitting at pavement coffee bars or cafes enjoying brunch. It was really hard to understand how these worlds, separated by just a road, were living such vastly different lives.
What it did show me, however, was that those young people on the right side of the financial divide probably do live in a world where America is the land of the free. They have freedom of choice because that is one of the options that disposable income gives you.
I doubt those on the other side of the road feel the same. They don’t have those choices, they are not even free to choose to live with a proper roof over their heads because they simply cannot afford it .
This image just symbolises for me the divides we find in society.
I came away from Santa Monica feeling America was very much a country (like many others) of the haves and the have nots. Don’t get me wrong Santa Monica is not unique, this ideology was then underscored as our trip continued and we saw the homeless in Philadelphia and New York.
When I began writing this post it was my intention to address this question in full as there were other adventures on our American trip which also tested this adage that America is the land of the free. However with more to write I will have to continue next week……..
A Midlife Adventure 