07-07-2023, 09:54 AM
America, per my history classes growing up, was always the place where everyone had a chance to make it. If you were a poor immigrant there was work. If your religion was repressed you were free to worship your own way here.
We had unlimited land and opportunities.
Which was a GREAT sales job to get poor, repressed people here to work long hours for peanuts while the established white families got richer and richer.
However the great thing about America was/is that when enough people get together to demand change to better their lives they have the freedom to do it.
Do we occasionally kill them for trying to escape slavery or unionize? Sure. Do we still call workers who want a raise lazy and unwilling to "work hard" despite productivity increasing while wages did not? Well, yeah.
All seriousness aside we WERE the land of opportunity. My father, just one generation ago, could buy a house, raise a family and have a decent life with just him working and my mom staying home. Until the venture capitalists came around in the early 80s and bought the factory for its profits and them locked out the employees so they could consolidate the company and make more money, even stealing their pension.
What I'm trying to say it we were/are the land of opportunity. Some use that to better themselves by working hard. Some use that to take better themselves by taking advantage of people below them.
We've definitely lost our way. And I'm on record for saying it started with the "greed is good" "voodoo economics" of Ronald Reagan. Maybe that's because that's when I started paying attention.
We have the ability to ACTUALLY be great. We could go back to caring about teachers and students and education. We could revamp our health care system. We could improve our power grid and work to rely less on foreign oil and more on solar and wind and other sources of energy WHILE STILL maintaining our lead in natural gas and still using coal. But all of that would take effort, time and money. Something our elected officials don't want to expend. And that one party actively campaigns against.
We no longer welcome immigrants. We demonize them for "taking our jobs" .
We no longer have freedom to practice your religion. We have people who demand that THEIR religion be practiced by everyone.
We no longer encourage unions and better wages and working conditions. We complain that "this generation" is lazy and isn't loyal.
When was America Great? I'm not sure it was ever great for everyone but it has the potential to be great for most Americans if we can stop the fighting with "them" and taking care of "us".
We had unlimited land and opportunities.
Which was a GREAT sales job to get poor, repressed people here to work long hours for peanuts while the established white families got richer and richer.
However the great thing about America was/is that when enough people get together to demand change to better their lives they have the freedom to do it.
Do we occasionally kill them for trying to escape slavery or unionize? Sure. Do we still call workers who want a raise lazy and unwilling to "work hard" despite productivity increasing while wages did not? Well, yeah.
All seriousness aside we WERE the land of opportunity. My father, just one generation ago, could buy a house, raise a family and have a decent life with just him working and my mom staying home. Until the venture capitalists came around in the early 80s and bought the factory for its profits and them locked out the employees so they could consolidate the company and make more money, even stealing their pension.
What I'm trying to say it we were/are the land of opportunity. Some use that to better themselves by working hard. Some use that to take better themselves by taking advantage of people below them.
We've definitely lost our way. And I'm on record for saying it started with the "greed is good" "voodoo economics" of Ronald Reagan. Maybe that's because that's when I started paying attention.
We have the ability to ACTUALLY be great. We could go back to caring about teachers and students and education. We could revamp our health care system. We could improve our power grid and work to rely less on foreign oil and more on solar and wind and other sources of energy WHILE STILL maintaining our lead in natural gas and still using coal. But all of that would take effort, time and money. Something our elected officials don't want to expend. And that one party actively campaigns against.
We no longer welcome immigrants. We demonize them for "taking our jobs" .
We no longer have freedom to practice your religion. We have people who demand that THEIR religion be practiced by everyone.
We no longer encourage unions and better wages and working conditions. We complain that "this generation" is lazy and isn't loyal.
When was America Great? I'm not sure it was ever great for everyone but it has the potential to be great for most Americans if we can stop the fighting with "them" and taking care of "us".
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media0.giphy.com/media/1kwsTjL8BNqlszNtnCE/giphy.gif)
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
