My friend, we agree 100%. I have done that all my life and I suspect you as well. Frankly, for me it has worked out. But, it certainly was not done in a 40-hour week, but more like a 60 or 70-hour week, or without some sacrifice to my family for not being a more engaged father and husband.
But you forgot to mention that the system is somewhat rigged. You and I do all the things you mention in the post and live by the rules, and hopefully, it all works out. But is it fair?
When you realize there is a two-tier (maybe more tier) system, you quickly realize that it impacts things like our justice system, our social life, our ability to advance, and all other conditions. I use "our" to include your family -- which is really what it is all about. And that multi-tier system is designed to keep us in our place. That is, in that sweet spot where we work from can to can't with incremental advancements (the carrot) but always keeping it just out of reach.
Anyway, I'm not complaining. Life has been very good to me. I make these points because I'm not so sure that there is some degree of manipulation, maybe even a lot of manipulation, going on to achieve someone else's goals.
I don't know the answer. I simply pose the thought.
For most of human existence, people worked hard, grueling work to keep alive. Most were agrarian. It was really quite difficult to produce more calories than one burned off to produce those calories. It’s Adam’s curse.
Genesis 3:17 “To Adam He said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”
Only in relatively recent times has man produced the technologies to allow much leisure. The people who actually produce the things we need (food, energy, etc) are so many times more productive than their forebears.
My point? People think they are owed a good life without working for it. Truth be told, even unproductive people lead very good lives compared to their ancestors. That’s thanks to the hard working productive people who are carrying the laggards. (Except the takers are no longer grateful for it).
As to your point that the system is stacked against people moving up, that has always been true throughout human history. However, America truly was and is still the land of opportunity—maybe not as good as it once was but still better than most cultures. I hope Americans wake up before we lose that.