The Myth of the American Dream

Most Americans will never achieve the American dream! This is of course a fact that is lost on most Americans. You see we are brought up cradle to grave and inundated with thoughts and slogans that yes we can have the Mercedes, yes we can have the big house, yes we can eat out more than once a week. Fact is, most of us will never see it.

We are filled with the pledge of allegiance to the flag in our classrooms as elementary students, middle school and high school students. We are taught the need to fight for our country and to be patriotic. Yet, at no time, as public school student, that many of our wars have been needless. That America has often intervened and undermined legitimate governments, such as the 1970's overthrow of Salvador Allende of Chile and the coup in Iran in the early 1950's that brought the Shah of Iran to power. Incidentally, we are still paying for that last one.

We are never told how much of our collected tax dollars are destined to run the military industrial complex. At this time it is around 51%. We are not told that our politicians receive millions and millions of dollars from corporate interests. Rarely do these corporate interests have your welfare or mine in at heart. We have been led to believe that a government run healthcare program wouldn't work. Though it works quite well in every other industrialized European country and Canda, our neighbor to the north. We are not told that corporate interests have urged this country to be the aggressor against foreign governments. Examples are United Fruit and the invasion of the Dominican Republic in the 1960's and just look to see what corporations benefited from the illegal 2003 invasion of Irag. Three are Kellog Brown, Blackwater, a mercenary army, based on US soil and Halliburton.

So what does this have to do with the American dream. Families struggle to pay a mortgage,credit card payments ( by the way, cut them up and work out a payment plan) to put food on the table,  to pay for two cars, to pay for health and life insurance, clothes. What is left often goes to the children in the way of camps, sports, maybe a little in a pre-paid college plan. But then what is left? Usually nothing.Did you notice I didn't list retirement savings. Simply at the end of the day there is nothing left for the retirement.

Did you realize that there are many politicians that want to do away with social security? Meaning the programs set up under President Franklin Roosevelt would be disbanded. There would not be a safety net. What would have happened had the Republican politicians been successful with that plan prior to the fall of 2008? There would have been many more times the lost wealth than what there was. Have you read in the paper about all the banks that received the bailout and how the funds were used to pay bonuses to their executives. Again, these are people who do not care about you or your children.

Hopefully, for those who read this it will fire a synapse or two. Maybe you will go and read a book. Try War is a Racket by General Smedly Butler. Antoher is The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Gore Vidal is another author who has written on the topic of american intervention.

If you wish to discuss this article or life, the universe and everything please feel free to call me.