We Had a Dream...

We had a dream that America was the land of opportunity. It was always just a dream. Some fantasy based on the ruthlessness of some and the luck of others. The reality is hardworking Americans have always been given the shaft. Either we were slaves or we were immigrants with no rights or we were simple poor people who's families could not afford the luxuries of education and position.

Some Americans from modest beginnings, rose, but even they took a back seat to the old guard money built on the blood and sweat of slaves and abused immigrants. Most who rose were simply the individuals we admired for talents others do not have. Celebrities are tolerated but not welcome in the club of the modern robber barons.

We fought the wars for this false dream. We starved in the streets to protect the wealthy. We were shot down in cold blood when we asked for fair compensation. And when slavery was abolished it wasn't any end or a new beginning only something different and the suffering continued as did the profiteering. Same as it ever was only in different industries for newer times.

America is a lie. After a half a century or more of advertising and media manipulation, yellow journalism, corrupt politicians we are left with belief in the lies. We believe the lie that we can live wealthy on blue collar wages, that we can have a new house in suburbs and buy new cars every few years we actually believe we can become members of the million club. So much so a game was created to make instant millionaires of a tiny portion on immense odds. Winning the lottery is the American dream.

We think credit is free. We trust not in God but in the bankers and the financiers. We trust them because and do as we are told. We give them our savings so they can gamble with it. They created new ways of manipulating mundane transactions like mortgages, they mangled them into a huge risky investments disguised as sure bets. The money had to be harvested from the middle class, we grew too strong and were getting bolder.

A handful of people sold us on the stock market as a stable pension plan for our future. In the end, for some now and for many in the future, we will ask ourselves, "How did it come to this?". When we do, we can point the finger at ourselves and take the blame for being sheep among wolves, for being cattle for the slaughter, the cash cow for another generation of manipulators and usurpers.

Make no mistake, there is no joyous happy ending here. America sold itself down the river for cheap tee shirts, hammers, flat screen HD widescreen distraction and easy cash money. We gave up and accepted what was given, which was a lie, a empty promise of a dream like retirement after a lifetime of toil.

There is no retirement. There will be no money for you. Stop paying into the lie. Stop playing into the game. Cash in. Live small. Work hard and give your efforts to community and family. We don't have a dream anymore, we have the reality that we each live in. Make the most of it and stop the madness perpetrated by Wall Street, Hollywood, Washington and Madison Ave.

We are main street, start living like it.



(edits for grammar)