It's all around us, but we can't see it, and there's a simple reason for that. "Unemployment" is invisible.

The most crucial problem of my lifetime in rural America has been the flight of jobs. We paid high taxes to educate our children in outstanding schools ... and then watched our youngsters move away when they graduated, searching for jobs.

Here's one example of today's reality: We watch a new cafe open. The hard-working proprietor does everything right -- tasty food served promptly in an attractive setting -- and yet we could almost cry because we know the proprietor will fail in a few months.

It's unfair, but that's what happens when you've lost most of your jobs. Because of a lack of patrons, this hopeful new business doesn't have a chance.

We Kansans have been aware of this jobs problem for decades. Thirty to 40 years ago, several northwestern Kansas towns actively went out and enticed manufacturing plants to move to their communities, offering them special benefits and support.

You saw the eventual results. Here in Downs, or example, a meatpacking plant sets abandoned at the edge of town. Those jobs are gone. That's why so many rural Kansas towns -- places that we love and call "home" -- are practically ghost towns. Lack of jobs.

At first, we thought the jobs were moving to the larger towns and cities, and many of them probably were. Today, the bulk of manufacturing jobs seem to be migrating to Third World nations where labor is cheap.

When there were more of us, most rural folks hated labor unions because they came up with unreasonable demands -- such as the idea that workers should be paid enough to live well. Of course, some unions demanded so much that they almost priced their employers out of business, and so there was reason to dislike their actions.

But that was long ago. Much of the union power evaporated when American manufacturers outsourced millions of jobs.

For years, I have written that outsourcing jobs would result in a severe economic decline for America. Well, unemployment is 10 percent, wages are stagnant, and our economy remains shaky, even after government bailouts.

But, as nearly as I can tell, no one paid any attention to my call to support American manufacturing at home. On this front, I hear almost nothing about what our elected delegates to the U.S. Congress are doing. Hopefully, they've been actively boosting American employment but their actions haven't been reported.

I hope they aren't the type who mainly support Big Business, which builds factories overseas.

Naturally, we need world trade. We need overseas markets for our wheat and meat and many other products. But, at the same time, we have been hurt by trade agreements which flood American stores with cheap products built by underpaid overseas workers.

Somehow, we don't seem to have a level playing field. "Cheap" sounds great to American consumers, but "cheap" wages (or no wages) don't allow them to buy much. So the trading system may be broken, as some reports indicate.

That's why I like the idea of tax breaks for products "Made in America," and fair play on imported goods. We hear a lot about America's failure to enforce its trade agreements. Of course, only a few experts understand what's really happening, so we're left in the dark -- we listen to this political opinion, and that political platitude, and we can't decipher the truth.

I, for one, am sick of the status quo -- the lack of helpful ideas and the mouthing of political talking points that "fool most of the people most of the time."

We've all heard the sick old joke that we have the "best Congress that money can buy" because of the supposed influence of lobbyists. Occasionally, I've tried to defend politicians from that charge but, while watching an almost idealess and leaderless representation, find it harder and harder to do.

Perhaps that characterization has become outdated. Because now, you see, we are faced with the possibility of the "best Congress that corporations can buy."

Do you think they will create more home-grown jobs? Kansas-built wind turbines? American-built anything?

You can slice it any way you wish, and spin it to favor your prejudices, but all of your glibness can't wipe out one basic fact. If America is to remain a strong nation, its people need jobs. Good jobs. Well-paying jobs.

Then they can buy products, and support their schools, and fund government programs such as Medicare and Social Security ... and even pay back all that money that Congress borrowed from China.

Darrel Miller lives near Downs in rural Osborne County and is a retired weekly newspaper editor.