American dream or nightmare 2

So no one can get elected to any official office in the USA without stating support for American Exceptionalism by repeatedly referring to America as The Land of Opportunity, to The American Dream, and any of many other trite pseudo-patriotic expressions.  Why is this important?  Mainly due to the fact that since the Reagan era, America has no longer been The Land of Opportunity, and The American Dream has turned into a myth.

Since Reagan, the percentage of national wealth held by the richest 1% of Americans has doubled, the percentage of wealth of the richest 0.1% has tripled, and the average income for the 99% has barely moved.  This is one of the points that the Occupy Movement was trying to emphasize.  Compared to the other first world countries, the USA has the lowest equality of opportunity, and this includes "Old Europe".  We have low social mobility.  The status you were born into largely determines the status you will obtain in your adult life.  Much of this has to do with differences in nutrition, education, peers, social pressures--things that are mainly a result of the opportunities that wealth can provide.  And the rate of difference in equality has been increasing, especially through the eight Bush years, and not slowed much through the first four Obama years.  We are heading toward an America that has two classes--the rich and the poor, and very few in the middle class--if we cannot stop and reverse this trend toward income inequality.

As "Americans", we have to acknowledge that Obamacare is important for the future of our people.  We have to acknowledge that true improvement in education (not voucher schools) is important for the future of our people.  We have to acknowledge that those richest Americans who create wealth for themselves but not economic growth for the 99% have to pay their fair share and stop filling their pockets with corporate welfare.

This failure of the American system is hurting the 99% by restricting economic growth for the middle class, keeping the poor from having a fair shot at obtaining their potential, and will eventually negatively affect those at the top, who have for the past few decades benefited from tax cuts for themselves and spending cuts for programs that can help improve income equality.  This is what the New Deal and the Great Society programs were trying to accomplish, and Reagan, the Bushes, and, yes, even Clinton have created the means to destroy.  "We went so well so long...when I think of the road were travelling on, I wonder what's gone wrong."

We have seen the enemy in the mirror.  Yes, he is us.  We must change, or the loss of The American Dream will be permanent.