The American Dream

America will never be immune to the same occurrences in older countries. Our founding fathers have long been dead, and it remains to be seen if the spirit of their vision for America will continue. It is a choice, much like the choice I have exposed concerning computer usage. We can either continue on the traditional path of a humanities-based existence, or we can be absorbed into cyberdom. (I am coining a new word. Unlike thunderdome, cyberdom is akin to kingdom) We can choose to go the route of George Orwell, George Bush, or George Jetson. Traditional Humanities means an emphasis on cultural studies or the Arts. Obviously science should be included in this blanket philosophy, as colleges and universities always broadly have defined their curriculum as Arts and Sciences. Computer science is and should be a component of science, but it is quickly crossing over. George Orwell didn’t think it was a good idea to disguise the boundaries between fact and fiction. His novel l984 depicted a corrupt government using crude computer technology to create Newspeak, a propaganda that basically rewrote current news to favor the current political faction. If game-designers in California are intent upon blurring the line between fact and fiction, then doesn’t this set the trend for what is to come? This simple intent brings about the whole necessity of government regulation. It has been traditional in the United States for the government to “regulate” private business. Government was meant to be the watchdog of greedy self-interest in private business. That was a time when presumably the government was honest and cared about the American people. This process ceases to work when government itself fails to possess the wisdom necessary to regulate private business. We deregulated the airlines, and what happened? We also deregulated the railroads. Consequently deregulation can be meant to provide a variety of results. The railroads were all ready in bankruptcy, so deregulation was meant to ease governmental pressures hopefully spawning economic revitalization. The predicament is, the beauty that is the American Dream, i.e. the possibility of financial reward in the free market, does not look after the American people as a whole. If the boundaries between private business and government become blurred, no one is looking after the interests of the American people. Republicans have had the tendency to become immersed in their own private lifestyles. They have become blind to the broader American reality by the spoils and riches associated with their own economic prosperity in the private sector. BP posted record profits for gasoline at a time gas prices were at a historic high in American. This is why Capitalism is perfect for the wealthy. The popular adage, “It takes money to make money” holds true. Likewise money is what allows the wealthy to stay wealthy. How can you make money in America if you do not have the investment capital to build a factory and hire a work force? Statistics say almost 90% of small businesses fail within the first year. Traditionally the American government has been the watchdog for the people against wrong-doings in private business. It maintained an almost Socialist role providing security, goods, and services to the American people in times of need. To this day the federal government still is one of the largest employers in the United States. Unfortunately another component that controls economic and social mobility in America precariously is controlled by government. Education. Therefore if the government, which is the watchdog of the American people, becomes corrupt by the negative influences of the private sector, the American dream becomes jeapardized. If one has no money, there is only ONE way to find financial independence in America. Education. Wouldn’t it be nice to say Americans can find a good education in the ghetto? In the early years of American society it was possible to find an education “on the street.” Gangstas have carried on this tradition by immersing themselves in a trade that is suitable to them. With no opportunity for higher education and with no front money, their prospects seem pretty grim when prefaced by traditional society. “Oh Jeeves, could you bring me a mint julip?” Duke Ellington’s family, in his Washington, DC suburb, mimicked the pageantry of Victorian Era of England. What an interesting way to live, if you have money. The lower classes of people must live in a different socio/economic strata, and that the street. This is the almost more-realistic underpinning of American life. Quentin Tarantino has made a great success in film by depicting this gritty personification. Traditionally the mostly Italian MOB or mafia defined this socio-economic subculture. They saw big business and government as it was to them, and constructed their own reality defined by the working man on the street. This existence should not be swept under the rug and forgotten like the strip clubs and porno shops of New York city’s Time Square. It is real history. All the Political Correctness, White House spin, and media propaganda cannot disguise this seemingly unsavory history which really is the economic prospect of the common American without education. Cyberdom has all ready annihilated the music industry. It has threatened television like nothing before it. If we allow a corrupt government and cyberdom to disguise reality, common Americans might as well throw in the towel. “Rocky!”