A Dream Lost

   Maybe I'm just getting old, but I haven't heard about this thing called the "American Dream" in a 'coon's age.

   Does it still exist?

   My guess is it has been, like most everything else, updated to a higher level of social living.  Perhaps it only lives in the minds of the affluent.   Their style of dreams, however, would probably center around getting a bigger or a second home or yacht.  Normal, run-of-the-mill American Dreams used to be more in the line of an affordable mortgage on your own home, a dependable auto, a couple of kids, a color television, and a job that would help pay your bills and carry you into retirement.  

   The American Dream's most shining allure was a promise of hope.  It was something we all talked about and worked toward.  It resembled a world on Lake Wobegon that Garrison Keillor described as a place where men are men, women are handsome, and the kids are all above average.  The "upper crust" was seldom discussed.  We knew they existed as those rich people, but America had her eyes on the middle and lower class of folks.  The mills, mines, and manufacturers were filled with the hard-working "American Dreamers."  

   Today, things have turned upside down.

   Corporations, corrupt cronyism, and capitalists have moved to the inside track of our nation.  They seem to be at the head of the line on nearly everything and they were able to get their own kind elected to the majority of congressional seats in our government.  As it would follow, they - in turn - were quick to get their ilk in high presidential administration jobs, as well.  Slowly, the noose was pulled on the traditional "American Dream" and it was dropped like a bad nightmare.

   The "haves" are at the front of the line and in charge of most decision-making while the middle and lower class are too busy just keeping their heads above water to even notice what was happening.  

   But notice they finally did.

   And when they looked around it was too late.  The future of workers' livelihoods and longevity was gone.  If they complained too much, their jobs were shipped to foreign countries.  The capitalists are firmly in charge and they have no desire  - or need - to relinquish anything.  The days of companies making money because of the hard work of their employees is now considered "fake news."   Salaries are intentionally kept near or below poverty levels in many cases and it takes a court case and a very liberal judge to enact even a modest increase.

   Today, things are looking very bleak for the families of a country that was once the pride of manufacturing and protected rights for her workers.  Capitalists use unions as their feeble excuse for everything, even though unions came into existence primarily for safety issues and workers' rights.  Wages became an issue when workers were in unsafe conditions, long work days, and living in poverty.

   The world now looks in bewilderment at the all-consuming drive for money in the corrupt United States of America.  It is no longer fashionable for a CEO to become just a millionaire.  He or she must reach billionaire status just to get a key to the executive washroom

   All in all, the "American Dream" is dead in the water, and in most cases, even the hope is gone.

   A Dream Lost.

Opinion by John Watson