Thursday, August 28, 2008

What the U.S. is all about

I heard some interesting commentary at work today from a Cuban-American. The person said the U.S. is all about becoming a millionaire, and that if you don't become a millionaire you're effectively doomed to being taken advantage of by the millionaires and can never expect to have a very good lot in life.

I think it's a pretty accurate description of the Republican mindset and the way our system has been rigged during the Bush administration (and previous Republican administrations of late). It's the winner-take-all view. But the winners wouldn't be able to win without the efforts of the rest of society, and the rest of society should expect some modicum of security for their efforts. Essentially we're all in this together.

What this commentator perhaps fails to appreciate is that the United States was not founded as some sort of feudalistic plutocracy but as a democracy in which everybody counts. It's time we got back to our roots.

(My own ancestors fought with distinction in the American Revolution against the tyranny of hereditary monarchs who fashioned themselves to be ruling by divine right and without the consent of the governed.)

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