THE AMERICAN DREAM

The American Dream, the idea that has attracted my ancestors and so many other immigrants to our USA, is to live in a land of opportunity, a middle class land, a large land, in the New World free of the stifling rigidity of the Old World. At least that was true for most of our ancestors. It’s true that the ancestors of some of us were brought here as slaves, and others were just here to start with.

Not everyone in America advances to achieve the American Dream, or at least not to the desired degree. Not everyone can rise to the top of the heap. The Republican Party dream is the possibility of advancement even if it does not happen. The Democrats (at least the pragmatic Democrats) appreciate that possibility, but say that in this very wealthy country there is enough to go around to give those at the bottom at least a minimum safety net. Economic success or failure might be related to one’s hard work or lack of work, but it often is not. So an economic compromise between pragmatic Republicans and Democrats, between pragmatic Conservatives and Liberals, between pragmatic Right and Left is Capitalism/Opportunity with a safety net for those who have not yet achieved the American Dream.

Unfortunately over years the Tea Party Far Right “Conservatives” economically have advanced maximizing opportunity without any safety net (along with putting a finger on the scale to cement and enhance the wealth of the most successful). Some on the Far Left, who now claim to be “Socialists,” advance a program of economic equality for all (with or without opportunity). Now, in the time of Trump, social factors (like bigotry, nativism, divisiveness, anti-immigration, corruption, and dishonesty) have been unleashed on the Right.

The recent Blue Wave of the recent mid-term election illustrated the strength of the Democratic party when it pulls together (along with some pragmatic former Republicans) against the dishonesty of Trumpism. We need to avoid rigidity (as President Obama has suggested) to pull our country together with sensible compromise to bring honesty, reason, and civility back to the White House.