The Obama Lottery

President Obama is holding a lottery. Tickets are ten dollars each (officially they are called contributions), and the prize is dinner with the President and the Vice President. It is a smart fund raising idea. It will bring in money, and it presents the image of the campaign as being of and by the people. It troubles me, though. For me, what it highlights is this nation’s vast inequality and the emptiness of the promise of this country. Some people, Mark Zuckerberg for example, have enough money and power to get himself real access to the President. The rest of us have a lottery. We have a lottery and the false impression of equality and equal opportunity. Everyone has a chance to talk to the President. Now of course, it really isn’t everyone (does everyone have internet access?) and everyone doesn’t have an equal chance ... but it is enough to appease us. It is enough to keep things running smoothly. It is the same promise offered to all of us as American Citizens. Anyone can succeed. Anyone can become the President … or meet with him. That is not the reality, of course. It is expected to be enough. It has been enough. The question is, should it be enough? I would like to say no ... but I bought a ticket.