Monday, November 30, 2009

Death of the American Dream


I am a huge fan of Hunter S. Thompson but like most of his fans, I honestly don’t understand much of what he was writing about. It was his turn of phrase that always got me and the balls to just scribe whatever was floating around in his brilliant drug addled brain.

Lately, I have been cogitating on the Death of the American Dream; something Hunter started writing about when I was like 3. His hatred towards Nixon and everyone connected with the man is legend and Hunter attributed the death of the dream to the legions of (in his mind) evil pig fuckers.

Later on in life when Hunter was ailing both mentally and physically he began to believe George W. Bush to be banging the final nail in the coffin of the great American Dream; and when Kerry got slaughtered in the ‘04 Presidential, Hunter really lost his faith in the government and politics.

I believe Hunter’s suicide had more to do with his lack of faith in what was happening to the country than it did his inability to get around and the general deterioration of his health. I have always gotten the impression Hunter saw what was happening around him as too depressing to deal with, and ending it all was the only solution.

With the election of Barry, I also began to see what Hunter was talking about. He was right. The beginning of the end of the American Dream did begin during the late ’60’s and early 70’s although I believe it is an amalgam of everyone involved, not just Nixon or Bush but also everyone in between; past presidents, the Houses and quite frankly all of us as well.

Let’s face it, the only reprieve we have had in 45 years from a bleak outlook for the future as a country was with Reagan, whom we all rallied around and began to feel proud of the United States once again. We came back together as a country under Reagan. Ford was innocuous and boring, Carter was…well let’s not go there, Papa Bush was OK but no spitfire (I don’t believe he actually wanted to be Pres), Clinton doesn’t merit mentioning and W, well, W was W and although he kept us safe for which I am eternally grateful, he opened the door to the cult of personality that became Barry supporters.

The real death of the dream as aforementioned started some 45 years ago and what it has amounted to is the inability for middle class people to get ahead. I put partial blame on big business. Business people have begged and pleaded for years for Government to step back and let them do what they want. I completely agree with that kind of laissez-faire philosophy to this day. However, what is wont to happen, did happen; complete advantage was taken of all of us when W helped to de-regulate just about everything.

Sub prime mortgages, banks playing loosey-goosey with credit card programs and then whacking their customers with crazy fees, Wall Street playing their usual games. It has all been coming to what will amount as a dramatic, cataclysmic end.

There is no house in suburbia waiting for twenty something’s to purchase at a decent mortgage rate. There are no more BMW’s for those with combined incomes of $75,000. or less. There is no chicken in every pot nor are there two cars in every garage. That is what it is; dead. It’s been dead for many, many years. Your kids are not going to private school unless you have a great inheritance. Forget college funds, they can go the way of your once fat 401-K in a heart beat.

Pulling yourself up by the boot straps is no longer a feasible option. Well, for a few maybe, but it is now even harder than it was for your old Grannie selling apples for a nickel by the roadside during the Depression.

And, there are no solutions on the radar screen. An almost mystic, hope lactating, quasi-intellectual, do nothing and his cadre of fools now have dominion over our fate for the next four years. Quickly, his supporters seem to be realizing what a joke he and his administration are and there is nothing they can do about it for the next three years.

I have said many times that Barry is now irrelevant, but I was wrong. His relevancy is firmly placed in his ability to further screw up a situation that seemed to have no where else to go but up.

Our Non-President seems to think he is working with Monopoly money. He is unable to see or act upon the problems we face other than to throw money at them which this country clearly does not have.

In politics the best storyteller wins and Barry’s team of yarn spinners pulled a very brilliant although despicable trick on the American public. None of their promises have been realized. Once actually in office, this gaggle of cretins realized they didn’t have a clue and have now become experts in the spin doctor business, which is easy when you have bamboozled the media as well.

The lessons Barry’s crew of third graders are learning are great for them but awful for us. The stimulus package has made the United States slaves to foreign governments whom we should be avoiding like the plague. Can you say economic terrorism?

No jobs have been created. This is especially disappointing to the Green movement who were promised 5 million jobs by 2010. Read my lips people: this is Barry’s largest fuck up. Now is the time to reassess our use of resources and become a power on that front. We are getting our asses kicked in Copenhagen and that is just a shame.

Believe it or not, I have always been an optimist and I love this country, but even I am thinking about where I can live to be sure and provide my family with a solid situation until this shit blows over, if it ever does.

My brother whom I love dearly, likes to argue with me about Barry and says I should offer solutions instead of bitching about the situation. He’s right, the problem is unlike in the past, I can’t offer them because we are way too fucked up as a country for it to matter any longer.

We need a leader badly and I don’t see one coming along anytime soon. Goodbye American Dream, it was a good run.

http://blogofirreverence.blogspot.com/2010/01/revolution-yes-we-can.html