The Problem With The American Dream

Here is a link to a Dec. 8, 2016 New York Times article about the American Dream


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/opinion/the-american-dream-quantified-at-last.html?_r=0


Let me start by declaring that I hate The American Dream.

Why do Americans think the world is coming to an end if they don't make more money and live with more toys than their parents had? Too many Americans do not have a sense of community, or a sense that their purpose in life is to help other people or to work towards an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. As the prophetic novelist Kurt Vonnegut wrote 50 years ago in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, the true American flag is the black flag with the white skull and crossbones. The true national motto, which Vonnegut said should be inscribed on the pirate flag, is "SCREW YOU JACK. I GOT MINE."

The obsession with economic growth is common to both of our major parties. That is probably because it is an underlying assumption shared by a majority of Americans. It's a compulsive national drive to always have more that is mindlessly destroying our planet. Is growth in fossil fuel extraction good? Is growth in prison construction good? Is growth in nuclear weapons manufacturing good? Is growth in soft drink consumption or cigarette sales good? OF COURSE NOT! Shrinkage or extinction is a much better goal for all of these things. Growth industries should be strategically selected. Manufacturing of saxophones, or bicycles, or wind turbines and solar panels instead of cars and military hardware are obviously steps in a positive direction.

If the American Dream is disappearing, I say good riddance. It's too bad so many knuckleheads want to hang on to it. Because of it, we've seen white Americans in Idaho and Florida and every state lying in a broad swath between them send a man who is the ultimate personification of Vonnegut's motto to the White House.

This is a sick country and Leonhardt, with all his slick graphs and charts, doesn't seem to understand that.

The future is bleak and this rant is over.