Labor Day takes on different meaning when jobs are scarce

Labor Day is a complicated holiday this year.

It is traditionally a day of rest dedicated to celebrating the fruits of our labor.

But as the nation struggles through the third year of a recession, nearly one worker in 10 remains unemployed. Only the most myopic of optimists could take comfort in the converse statistic that 9 out of 10 have a job. This economy has lost more than 8 million jobs since December 2007, and those losses means tens of millions of men, women and children are struggling to make ends meet, much less live the American Dream.

Over the 115 years that the United States has been celebrating Labor Day, there have surely been worse years than this, but there have been many, many better years.

For two generations after World War II, the United States educated its young, pursued scientific advancement, built infrastructure, increased its standard of living and exported its products in quantities that could only astound the rest of the world.

And while the United States remains the largest economy on the globe, during the most recent generation its trade balance has shifted from positive to negative, and its budgets have, likewise, become increasing unbalanced.

There’s more than a casual connection between long-term job growth and investing in education and infrastructure, pursing a sound trade policy and balancing budgets.

Stimulus programs and government spending are necessary responses at times such as these, but they do not correct the excesses of the past ... or those the nation appears committed to in the near future, such as defense expenditures that dwarf any other nation in dollars or as a percentage of GDP.

Labor Day is a holiday; it is the unofficial end of summer, and it is the launch date for the fall political season.

As Congress returns to Washington, and as incumbents and challengers vie for every seat in the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate seats, it is time for every candidate to step up.

There are no simple answers to what have become systemic problems, and politicians should stop acting and speaking as if there were.

Any candidate who cannot outline with specifics and cogency — not with bumper sticker slogans — a proposal for restoring America to its status as the leader in technology, manufacturing, education and upward mobility doesn’t deserve the time of day, much less a vote.

It is going to be years before Labor Day has the same meaning it did for most Americans living today, but the longer people pretend that a correction is inevitable or that progress can be made without sacrifice, the longer it will take.