America At A Crossroads, Part II
The American Dream, or the American Nightmare?
Let me begin by asking you this: What is the modern day American Dream? What does America represent to you?
If you were just asked on the street in front of a group of people, how well could you articulate your answer to those two simple questions?
When I was growing up in the 1980s, I can vividly recall people talking about the American Dream. In simple terms it went along the lines of getting a good education, landing a good job in a career you liked, finding your soul mate, settling down to raise a family and buy the house with the white-picket fence and live happily ever after, or something to that effect.
When you asked people what America represented, freedom was almost always the first word out of anyone's mouth. The freedom to pursue your dreams, live where you wanted, build the house you wanted, do what you wanted to do, travel to where you wanted to go, believe whatever religion you chose to follow, and the freedom to speak your mind along the way. You could even eat the food you wanted.
But as I look at our country now, I wonder, what is the American Dream today? It has certainly been tainted in the past decade or two. Members of both parties in Washington and in offices across the land have mortgaged our future, and our children's future, so they could remain in power in the here and now. Our temporary politicians are doing real lasting damage to our country's future. Our personal liberties are being slowly eroded from right underneath our feet. The United States are becoming the Nanny States.
They have passed the Patriot Act and are working now on such Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA- which sounds like a great idea until you actually read what is in it). Look at the sacrifice in personal liberties you now must suffer just to fly on an airplane. The technology to essentially disrobe you is in use in airports across our nation. Many localities now have laws restricting everything from salt, trans-fats, and other ingredients in food, to the size of your soft drink. Sure these seem like little things which are for the 'common good', but they are all examples of the government taking away personal liberties. We should also be free to fail, free to be wrong, free to eat an Oreo cookie or a Happy Meal if we want, even free to drink a 32oz Coke.
Folks America is not going to die (much to the chagrin of the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood) with a kill shot to the head, but rather, she will slowly bleed out from the self-inflicted wounds of a complacent and apathetic public continually electing leaders who lack the courage to make difficult choices, balance our budgets, and quit selling their souls to their campaign financiers but who have the audacity to think they know what is fair, what is just, what we should and shouldn't do.
Instead, we get our news from a poisoned well of intense partisanship or from satirical comedy shows. Honestly, America is losing her way: becoming spoiled, self-righteous, entitled and looking for other people to solve our problems.
As I talk to friends, survey the internet, the news, people's blogs, and the like, I can tell you with absolute certainty what the American Dream isn't: our current reality.
The American Dream does not include an education system ranked between 17th and 25th in the world in reading, math and science; or where only 62% of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school. Nor is it an America where a black male has only a 47% chance of even graduating from high school. (1)
The American Dream does not include students who do graduate from high school going on to college so they can accumulate an average student debt of over $25,000 (2), and upon graduation have them pray they are not among the 53.6% of college graduates who are currently jobless or underemployed; thus moving back home to live with Mom and Dad with the hope they might be able to move out before they turn 30.
The American Dream does not include being one of the lucky few to graduate from college, get a job and then buy a house, just so they can lose it to foreclosure, or be upside-down on (owing more to the bank than the home is worth) it. Over 14 million homes have been foreclosed on in the past four years alone, and another 12-15 million are estimated to be upside-down on their mortgages. (3)
The American Dream does not include having the government provide you with just enough assistance to avoid starving to death and living in the street. Even though the published unemployment rate is "only" 8.3%, that number fails to take into account those who have simply given up looking for work. It only counts people who have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks. There are (according to CNN) 53 million people between the ages of 16-65 that are not in the labor force, they are not even seeking employment. These numbers are comparable to the dismal numbers seen during the end of the Carter presidency. Those types of statistics didn't exist during the Great Depression or it is likely they would mirror them as well.
The American Dream does not include having a child born today inherit the wonderful gift of over $51,000 worth of federal debt since we cannot seem to elect people who understand how to simply balance a budget. Did you give your newest family member a nice printed copy of their I.O.U.? Why not? Oh, wait. That's right. It's not part of the American Dream.
What if I shift to the second question: What does America represent to you? Given the present state of affairs, one could assume debt, little chance for a lasting career, more debt, possible homelessness, and a continued apathy towards changing our nation's course. But, I dare say, an illegal immigrant who has snuck into our country actually would have a far better answer.
To them America still represents opportunity, and a chance for a better life for their children. The chance to be free to pursue your dreams, to get an education, to take your ideas, work hard and hopefully make a better life for their children than they had. Alas, they had better be careful, opportunity now comes with an asterisk. If you are too successful, then many in America now feel as though you must give more of it back.
America in 2012 is not what it once was, the American Dream has become an American Nightmare to millions. Something must be done now, not in four more years or longer. This is another reason why it is so important we get this election right.
References:
(1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/high-school-graduation-rate-rises-in-us/2012/03/16/gIQAxZ9rLS_story.html
(2) http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php
(3) http://www.statisticbrain.com/home-foreclosure-statistics/
Words Mean Things Or They Don't
I thought I would have some fun with some quotes from Candidate Obama which actually are in direct conflict with the actions of President Obama.
"The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up the national debt from 5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added 4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have 9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic."
Those exact words were spoken on July 3, 2008 by then U.S. Senator Barrack Obama in Fargo, North Dakota at a campaign rally in his run for president. Mr. Obama perfectly summarized my single biggest problem with government in the United States of America. Irresponsible. Unpatriotic. Since he proved even more irresponsible and unpatriotic than his predecessor, I will be voting for his opponent this November, in the hopes he will be less of both in the future.
If you doubt he really said these things, well, here is the link to the video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuTG19Cu_Q&feature=player_embedded
"A year from now, I think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."
President Barack Obama said those words in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show in 2009. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRgaKfWMPA&feature=related
“Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”
President Barack Obama, February 23, 2009
Instead deficits have been over a trillion dollars a year, every year President Obama has been in office. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJvkkNmR_8
"I'm concerned about the direction America has been taking over the last four years. I know this is bigger than election about the two of us as individuals. It's bigger than our respective parties. It's an election about the course of America — what kind of America do you want to have for yourself and for your children.
And there really are two very different paths that we began speaking about this evening. And over the course of this month we're going to have two more presidential debates and vice presidential debate. We'll talk about those two paths. But they lead in very different directions. And it's not just looking to our words that you have to take in evidence of where they go; you can look at the record."
Republican Nominee for President Mitt Romney, October 3, 2012
You are right Mitt, they are very different directions and you are quite correct, it is bigger than two people or even the parties. It is about the attitude and course of our country. We simply must get control of our public spending, get rid of the types of politicians who pass the buck, pass the plate and then line their pockets and the pockets of those who helped get them there.
"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress."
Ronald Reagan during his political career. I just love them for perspective.
So, again, time to break this all up. If nothing else, I will certainly be able to look back in the future and know what I was thinking in 2012 as the election approached. Next up, the issues we face, and the sincere hope everyone will think, examine, ponder, decide and vote; preferably in that order.
Let me begin by asking you this: What is the modern day American Dream? What does America represent to you?
If you were just asked on the street in front of a group of people, how well could you articulate your answer to those two simple questions?
When I was growing up in the 1980s, I can vividly recall people talking about the American Dream. In simple terms it went along the lines of getting a good education, landing a good job in a career you liked, finding your soul mate, settling down to raise a family and buy the house with the white-picket fence and live happily ever after, or something to that effect.
When you asked people what America represented, freedom was almost always the first word out of anyone's mouth. The freedom to pursue your dreams, live where you wanted, build the house you wanted, do what you wanted to do, travel to where you wanted to go, believe whatever religion you chose to follow, and the freedom to speak your mind along the way. You could even eat the food you wanted.
But as I look at our country now, I wonder, what is the American Dream today? It has certainly been tainted in the past decade or two. Members of both parties in Washington and in offices across the land have mortgaged our future, and our children's future, so they could remain in power in the here and now. Our temporary politicians are doing real lasting damage to our country's future. Our personal liberties are being slowly eroded from right underneath our feet. The United States are becoming the Nanny States.
They have passed the Patriot Act and are working now on such Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA- which sounds like a great idea until you actually read what is in it). Look at the sacrifice in personal liberties you now must suffer just to fly on an airplane. The technology to essentially disrobe you is in use in airports across our nation. Many localities now have laws restricting everything from salt, trans-fats, and other ingredients in food, to the size of your soft drink. Sure these seem like little things which are for the 'common good', but they are all examples of the government taking away personal liberties. We should also be free to fail, free to be wrong, free to eat an Oreo cookie or a Happy Meal if we want, even free to drink a 32oz Coke.
Folks America is not going to die (much to the chagrin of the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood) with a kill shot to the head, but rather, she will slowly bleed out from the self-inflicted wounds of a complacent and apathetic public continually electing leaders who lack the courage to make difficult choices, balance our budgets, and quit selling their souls to their campaign financiers but who have the audacity to think they know what is fair, what is just, what we should and shouldn't do.
Instead, we get our news from a poisoned well of intense partisanship or from satirical comedy shows. Honestly, America is losing her way: becoming spoiled, self-righteous, entitled and looking for other people to solve our problems.
As I talk to friends, survey the internet, the news, people's blogs, and the like, I can tell you with absolute certainty what the American Dream isn't: our current reality.
The American Dream does not include an education system ranked between 17th and 25th in the world in reading, math and science; or where only 62% of black and Hispanic students graduate from high school. Nor is it an America where a black male has only a 47% chance of even graduating from high school. (1)
The American Dream does not include students who do graduate from high school going on to college so they can accumulate an average student debt of over $25,000 (2), and upon graduation have them pray they are not among the 53.6% of college graduates who are currently jobless or underemployed; thus moving back home to live with Mom and Dad with the hope they might be able to move out before they turn 30.
The American Dream does not include being one of the lucky few to graduate from college, get a job and then buy a house, just so they can lose it to foreclosure, or be upside-down on (owing more to the bank than the home is worth) it. Over 14 million homes have been foreclosed on in the past four years alone, and another 12-15 million are estimated to be upside-down on their mortgages. (3)
The American Dream does not include having the government provide you with just enough assistance to avoid starving to death and living in the street. Even though the published unemployment rate is "only" 8.3%, that number fails to take into account those who have simply given up looking for work. It only counts people who have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks. There are (according to CNN) 53 million people between the ages of 16-65 that are not in the labor force, they are not even seeking employment. These numbers are comparable to the dismal numbers seen during the end of the Carter presidency. Those types of statistics didn't exist during the Great Depression or it is likely they would mirror them as well.
The American Dream does not include having a child born today inherit the wonderful gift of over $51,000 worth of federal debt since we cannot seem to elect people who understand how to simply balance a budget. Did you give your newest family member a nice printed copy of their I.O.U.? Why not? Oh, wait. That's right. It's not part of the American Dream.
What if I shift to the second question: What does America represent to you? Given the present state of affairs, one could assume debt, little chance for a lasting career, more debt, possible homelessness, and a continued apathy towards changing our nation's course. But, I dare say, an illegal immigrant who has snuck into our country actually would have a far better answer.
To them America still represents opportunity, and a chance for a better life for their children. The chance to be free to pursue your dreams, to get an education, to take your ideas, work hard and hopefully make a better life for their children than they had. Alas, they had better be careful, opportunity now comes with an asterisk. If you are too successful, then many in America now feel as though you must give more of it back.
America in 2012 is not what it once was, the American Dream has become an American Nightmare to millions. Something must be done now, not in four more years or longer. This is another reason why it is so important we get this election right.
References:
(1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/high-school-graduation-rate-rises-in-us/2012/03/16/gIQAxZ9rLS_story.html
(2) http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php
(3) http://www.statisticbrain.com/home-foreclosure-statistics/
Words Mean Things Or They Don't
I thought I would have some fun with some quotes from Candidate Obama which actually are in direct conflict with the actions of President Obama.
"The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up the national debt from 5 trillion for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added 4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have 9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic."
Those exact words were spoken on July 3, 2008 by then U.S. Senator Barrack Obama in Fargo, North Dakota at a campaign rally in his run for president. Mr. Obama perfectly summarized my single biggest problem with government in the United States of America. Irresponsible. Unpatriotic. Since he proved even more irresponsible and unpatriotic than his predecessor, I will be voting for his opponent this November, in the hopes he will be less of both in the future.
If you doubt he really said these things, well, here is the link to the video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuTG19Cu_Q&feature=player_embedded
"A year from now, I think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."
President Barack Obama said those words in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show in 2009. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRgaKfWMPA&feature=related
“Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”
President Barack Obama, February 23, 2009
Instead deficits have been over a trillion dollars a year, every year President Obama has been in office. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJvkkNmR_8
"I'm concerned about the direction America has been taking over the last four years. I know this is bigger than election about the two of us as individuals. It's bigger than our respective parties. It's an election about the course of America — what kind of America do you want to have for yourself and for your children.
And there really are two very different paths that we began speaking about this evening. And over the course of this month we're going to have two more presidential debates and vice presidential debate. We'll talk about those two paths. But they lead in very different directions. And it's not just looking to our words that you have to take in evidence of where they go; you can look at the record."
Republican Nominee for President Mitt Romney, October 3, 2012
You are right Mitt, they are very different directions and you are quite correct, it is bigger than two people or even the parties. It is about the attitude and course of our country. We simply must get control of our public spending, get rid of the types of politicians who pass the buck, pass the plate and then line their pockets and the pockets of those who helped get them there.
"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress."
Ronald Reagan during his political career. I just love them for perspective.
So, again, time to break this all up. If nothing else, I will certainly be able to look back in the future and know what I was thinking in 2012 as the election approached. Next up, the issues we face, and the sincere hope everyone will think, examine, ponder, decide and vote; preferably in that order.
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