Yesterday we asked our Facebook fans a simple—yet important—question: Why do you think American manufacturing matters? We got some great responses, and wanted to share a few of them below:

“The manufacturing industry is what built the middle class. As our industry has been outsourced, our middle class has been reduced. What makes America great is the ability to get any job you want and provide for your family. We can no longer do that because there are not enough jobs. 14.9 million Americans are unemployed. To get the jobs back we need to bring manufacturing back. To get the middle class back, we need to get manufacturing back. To get American Pride back, we need to get manufacturing back.” -Danny R.

“Americans need good paying jobs. Manufacturing provides those. America needs to produce its own goods and goods for export.”
- Linda H.

“Because manufacturers form the extremely important base of tangible products which establishes if our economy is robust and healthy; or sluggish and poor, such as we are experiencing now, due to manufacturing decline. An economy blessed with productive manufacturing is an economy which can sustain ALL sub-economies that the society needs to function.”
-Gary C.

“Manufacturing is (or I should say was) the backbone of this country. A person who worked in manufacturing knew they weren't going to be "rich" in millionaires terms but they would be able to provide for their family and enjoy a piece of the American Dream.”
-Susan O.

“It will improve the quality of life/standard of living.”
-Steve I.

Click here to become a fan of Alliance for American Manufacturing on Facebook.