The American Oligarchy

It is difficult not to wax pessimism, when most of what we see in the media is controversy.  If we turn to traditional avenues of enlightenment, academia has become marred with plagiarism, discrimination, politics, and corruption.  College sports have bolstered capitalism and undermined the virtue of academia.  It's all about the dollar, and America has lost a myriad of ways to earn that dollar.  Like American Popular music or more succinctly, the "Pop Star," the shallowness of capitalism has indoctrinated us into win/lose.  Controversy.  Competition.  Dominance.  Battle.  War.  Win!  Lose!  Most people will agree some competition is positive, but traditionally academia was a shelter from the cut throat dynamic of Wall Street.  It was thought of as a nurturing place intelligent students could learn and hone their craft.  The illusion of the "College Town" remains, but it is less present.  Georgetown.  Chapel Hill.  Athens.  Asheville.  These places were Camelot back in the day and were far from the inner city ghetto.  If you are not careful you could be seduced by the college town.  As soon as you drive away from the collegiate environment, things change back to the countryside.  Iowa Farm Boy.  Corn Huskers.  Midwest Diary Farms.  The values of the small town have been a mainstay in the history of America, and perhaps they found their origins in Puritan settlers and their beliefs.  The temptations of the modern city did not suit them, and they felt the values of a working community were enough.  Farming.  Building.  Harvesting.  Was it the sexual allure of Rock 'n' Roll that seduced America's youth and created a sexual revolution?  Bob Fosse's choreography was a metaphor for this modern perspective.  The "Crooning" of our parents time no longer was relevant, and America's Youth sought a more aggressive, powerful, and empowering aesthetic.  Blaxpolitation has negative connotations, but after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, and Malcolm X, popular culture necessarily changed.  The dynamic of music, television, and film changed with the rise of the Black Panther Party.  Characters like Shaft, "Who's the private dick that is a sex machine to all the chicks?" were born in contrast to the passive and docile image of freed slaves.  After decades of segregation, Jim Crow, and lynchings, STAX records felt a stronger black persona was needed.  With the Viet Nam War raging, drug trafficking, and gang violence, crooning romantic music no longer was viable as an outlet for America.  Rock 'n' Roll was here to stay.  In our current search for identity and solidarity, there are many American choices.  Necessarily with the history of slavery they unfold over racial lines.  Integration was implemented in America's public schools offering equal opportunities for all.  Acutely we remember this scenario, Rosa Parks, George Wallace, and the Kennedy Clan competing in the arena of Civil Rights.  In a great disservice to America, bigotry and white supremacy would not allow the further dissemination of these principles.  Reganomics overshadowed the Civil Rights Movement and replaced it with the Yuppie, Young, Upwardly Mobile, Professional.  Reducing the 70% tax rate on the wealthy, expendable capital was released changing the economic landscape of America for better or worse.  Stagflation was thwarted, and people have mixed views on the result.  Instead of stuffing money into their pockets like our modern breed of billionaires, businesses, companies, and corporations invested back into their interests creating an American Renaissance of television, film, music, fashion, and commerce.  Not unlike the "Roaring Twenties," readily available cocaine fueled this mania.  As Americans we have our choice.  MAGA is an empty, politically motivated, manipulative ploy to destroy American democracy and self governance.  If we do want to make America great again, we need to increase the tax percentage on the ultra-rich, empower the middle and lower classes, and spread the dollar out through smaller businesses and practices.  The age of the "Pop Star" cannot sustain.  All men are created equal, but as a sovereign nation we have forgotten this.  America is an oligarchy, and our rulers are not adept at governance.