The Cannibalization of The American Dream

You are a smart one … that is for sure. First, you notice that the industrial jobs that have sustained the American middle class and given some traction to the dream of upward mobility are disappearing. You see that they are being replaced with jobs that require more education and/or get paid less and come with fewer benefits. Next, you notice that corporations are less connected to Americans than they ever have been … that they are only really dependent upon them as consumers, if at all. Then you see that corporations and the super rich that inhabit their board rooms have a lot of money to spend on behalf of folks who look after their interests. You also take note of the fact that as easily obtained good paying jobs disappear, class differences solidify. They have always been present, but now you can see the hints of a caste system developing. The people that have money now, will be the people that have money in the future. That has always been true to an extent, but now it is practically gospel. Equality, equality of opportunity … whatever you want to call it, it is now nothing but a mirage. It is a mirage, but not just any mirage. It is a sacred mirage. People still believe in it. They cling to it. They cling to the supposed greatness of America. It might be because it is all they have left, but you don’t care. You know that you can use it to your advantage. You can sell the masses on Horatio Alger and Tom Monaghan stories. They will not only buy it, they will defend it. They will turn on anyone that challenges it … and you can make anyone who challenges you out to be someone that is challenging that American Dream. It is a perfect set up. When someone proposes taxes on the wealthiest among us, you can trot out the American Dream alongside your trickle-down economics. You can even label those who put forward such ideas as socialists waging class warfare … elitists trying to tear apart America. It is brilliant. You destroy whatever existed of the American Dream, and divide us into castes, and then cover it in red, white, and blue and have the very people you hold down rush to the defense of the system you have put in place to hold them down and keep you up. It is brilliant. It is working. Sadly, that is the bottom line. There’s not much else to say other than … congratulations.