I hesitate using that second quote as I believe it to be exclusionary. They really need to change that shit. I cited the quotation merely for effect and that is all.
These are the tenets this country was founded upon. If they ever actually existed at all, it was just someone's nice idea. Of course there are freedoms we enjoy that other countries do not. That may have been more true then that it is now. Several countries have freedoms. Perhaps America led by example in that regard. Also more true then than now.
The dreams and promises of this country are illusions. Unregulated capitalism has become the name of the game at the expense of those not brought up in a life of extreme privilege. We have sacrificed our future at the prospect of making a quick buck perpetuating the need to make more and more money. To what end I wonder? Are these richest of the rich actually creating jobs and investing in the American economy? With a few exceptions, I say they are not. Just how much can one asshole spend in a lifetime. Richard Pryor had a hard time spending 30 million in a month. Of course that was just a movie. Just how does one start to reign in the unbridled greed that has taken hold in this country?
Success is not the problem. Greed absolutely is. The greedy have their sticky little hands out filling the pockets of our elected officials who then turn around and make laws to help those same already wealthy dicks get even wealthier again at the expense of the worker, our Earth and the mental well-being of the citizens of this country. It used to be that an individual could go work for 8 hours a day as a relatively unskilled laborer and still make enough to have a family, a home and take a modest vacation every year. That was before companies realized they could maximize their bottom lines by giving jobs to Indians, Indonesians…etc.
What recourse does one have? Anyone expecting to get a decent job will also have to get an education which is now outside the reach of more than just a few. Those that do get an education will spend the rest of their lives playing catch-up even if they do land that golden position in their field of study of which there is no guarantee. For those that do have jobs? CEO's and managers these days have gotten very comfortable in reminding folks they should be grateful to have jobs and using that as an excuse not to give merit raises and to continue to line their own fat pockets. I have always been grateful to be employed. I just wonder at times if it wouldn't be better off doing something that interest me rather than feign interest in what I am currently doing. If getting out of debt and having health insurance (don't even get me started on that fuckery) and supporting my family weren't such a priorities for me, I would have walked ages ago The problem comes when the expectation is to do more and more work for no extra incentive. I've had to take it upon myself to create my own sense of job satisfaction which gets harder and harder with every passing day. Of course job satisfaction doesn't pay the bills or put food on the fucking table. I've tried to avail myself to opportunities that may come my way, but am consistently shot down at every turn. Seems like the only thing anyone has faith in me doing is shit busy work a monkey could do. When folks ask what I do, I've started telling them I fill air and that it's even more boring than it sounds.
Again what recourse does one have? Nations in history's past have seen the rise of the worker and the overthrow of the Plutocrats, but often times at the expense of individual freedoms and expression. How exactly does one create balance so that everyone has the same opportunities? Have we literally become so entrenched in our fears and prejudices that we've run out of good ideas? America used to be known as the land of innovation. Seems like these days the only thing this country is any good at creating is more greed for a few and debt for the rest. If that isn't a modern version of what it means to be enslaved, I don't know what is.
S
