Job Hunting in Michigan

Where do I go from here? The largest job losses in the country are in the construction and manufacturing fields. There goes my career unless something changes quickly! After over twenty years as a electrician in both fields, I'm feeling like a fish out of water. I don't see things turning around anytime soon for Michigan so what am I to do? I'd love to go back to school but can't afford it. The "No Worker Left Behind" program is underfunded, overly bureaucratic and personally invasive. I would welcome a change in careers, as frightening as that can be, but what field should I and could I pursue?

Employers seem to want some experience but not too much. They don't want to have someone they need to invest too much time into for training but they also don't want the highly experienced as they don't want to pay the wages years of experience deserve. Where does it end? Most seem to want you to work until you're 100 but won't hire you if you're over 50.

Returning to school is a daunting possibility. How would I be perceived? Who would be more desirable, a young graduate with a head full of information or a 50 something grad with 20 plus years of experience in the field?

As an immigrant with a "green card" I am restricted from all government jobs. I have thought about becoming a citizen but many factors keep me from taking that step. The cost alone is daunting to me. Being out of work really makes the cost in dollars impossible to bear at this time. Do I want to really become part of a country which promises so much and delivers on so little.

The healthcare debate is illustrative of this point. Benefits are an important part of any job in any country but no more so that in the US. For all their bluster, many Americans miss out on one vital point in life. Part of the roll of government is to help foster community. All services performed by that government can be considered "socialist" in the truest sense. Police and Fire services, water and sewage, education etc. are by definition "socialist" constructs. Why would government health insurance suddenly be so "socialist". Arguments are that healthcare is not in the constitution! Well, neither are the institutions I've already mentioned. The phrase "provide for the general good" has got to fit in here somewhere and mean something! It's strange how the articles of the constitution are so quoted and revered and the preamble so ignored.

Does anyone have the moral right to make a profit at the expense of another's illness? Would not providing for the general good be to help prevent the financial ruin of a family because of circumstances beyond their control?

I hear so much talk about individual rights and individual responsibility but I hear nothing about responsibility to ones neighbors and community. The strength of a country lies in its sense of community, not in its individuals.

So many seem to equate socialism with communism and they couldn't be further from the truth. Communism is a top down ideology forcing so called equality on the people. Socialism, on the other hand, should be a bottom up approach with all people contributing to the greater good of their community and their country. If this means we all contribute to a public health insurance system, then so be it. I'm tired of hearing "I" in all this discussion. We the People trumps I the person any day of the week.

Forgive my rambling but the issues that hold me back from citizenship also hamper my ability to get certain jobs. I thank God that my wife has a great job. I don't know where we would be without it. Bankrupt for sure!

There is much more that I would like to say but I don't have the time or space here to write a book.