Then, in 1965, there was a vision. President Lyndon Johnson addressed the tragedy that existed in America, poverty. He had hoped to give birth to a Great Society. Mister Johnson dreamed of the day when the truth of America reflected the richness that is often said to define this country. Yet, his aspiration was deferred. In a desire to create a Great Society, or two, one at home and one overseas, Lyndon Johnson lost his bearing. Ultimately, he destroyed most of what he hoped to build. As President Obama begins his walk down a similar path, people ponder; what might President Obama plan and unintentionally promote.
A recent change of the guard in the Massachusetts Senate race force the President to reveal he is working. We, the American people, are waiting, just as we have been for months and months. For a full year, countless citizens have felt as though they were patient. Yet, the President did not seem to have their interests at heart. True change has not come. Countless constituents anticipate none is forthcoming. Three hundred and sixty five plus have gone by and the American people are tired of being patient.
The circumstances in their personal lives have proven to be critical, worse now than in 2009. Oh, some remain hopeful. They continue to believe. Several are waiting for Godot, who as we all know, never comes. Millions await the Messiah. Many thought Barack Obama was the great liberator. This human was perchance, a deity, devotees continue to declare. He is a divine being, or was in the eyes of the electorate before he entered the Oval Office. Now, Americans are wasted, wanting. They trusted and waited for him to transform the nation. Today, the people wonder; is it too late.
Great News! The good life will soon return to America. Auspiciously, months before the holiday shopping season began, Americans were told that after more than a year of fiscal recession, or what some have characterized as akin to an economic depression, consumers were optimistic. The confidence index and other indicators were much improved. Manufacturing executives assured the public, the engine that drives the free enterprise system was in a "sustainable recovery mode." In the very near future, products, and people's sense of need, would be fabricated again. Everything will be right with the world, economically. Few feared the threat that, long ago, Americans had come to accept. The foundation of a democratic system had eroded in favor of consumption.
If that is all there is, and there is more than we ever imagined, then let us keep dancing. Let us sing, and have a ball. If that is all, then we, as a country, have much. We can see the errors of our ways. We can change. Yes we can.
A Democratic society adjusts to situation. We alter course when we have gone astray. The people can choose another direction. Neighbors unite. Belatedly, as it may sometimes be, we can come together and work more wisely. We have. We are the American way, at last. At long, long last, our love has come along.
The lonely days are over. Life is like a song. At last, the skies above are blue. Our hearts were wrapped up in clover the night we looked at you, America reborn.
We found a dream that we could speak to, a dream that we can call our own. The vision is one we will, share, forever. America, you are our home sweet home.
It was the Friday before Election Day 2008. The sun was low in the sky. My spirits were also near to the ground. As the days focused on "change," turned to months, and near two years, I had begun to lose hope. Too much time had passed. The Bush Administration overturned too many laws. In the recent past, the country had transgressed back into the future. Others were blissful, certain a better world would come. I was not confident. Near an hour before, Eddie, a young man who has lived on Earth for less than a quarter of a century, said he may not vote. He did not have faith that we, or he, were the change a country could believe in. for Eddie, "Yes we can" equated to "No he would not."
It is becoming more apparent with each passing day that the American lifestyle as it currently exists is unsustainable. For more than three decades, we have accepted the false narrative that we can live beyond our means and there will be no cost for the extravagance. Not only has our government accepted and promoted this falsehood, but we as a nation have accepted it as well. It has become so engrained into our national psyche that anyone who dares to point out its inherent flaws is immediately ridiculed by politicians, the media, and their fellow citizens.
You see rather than looking at the real culprits of our failed domestic and foreign policies we want to create these "bogeymen" who want to destroy our sacred way of life. The truth is that it is always easier to blame others for our shortsightedness and faults.??
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. ~ Martin Luther King, Junior
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Junior.
Days from now America will commemorate an anniversary. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Junior was brutally assassinated. Citizens will recall the wisdom of a man who lived for peace and yet, fell victim to violence. Homage will be bestowed. The American people will praise the preacher, the teacher, and the man who taught us all to speak of what remained tacit for too long. In the United States of America, all men are not equal. As a country, we do not treat people well. Nor do government officials lead us to the promised light of world harmony.
Why is it that when we encounter poor or homeless people they make us cringe? Why do we want to make them disappear into shelters or remove them out of our sights? Since the Reagan revolution we have instead of being at war against poverty, we have been at war with poor people. They litter our streets like so many abandoned cars at a salvage yard. Why has it been so easy to sell the false narrative that people are poor by choice and that if they would just work harder they wouldn't be poor? I think that our reactions to the poor says more about who we are than who they are. Let's face it there have been poor people throughout recorded history, so what's the big deal? The big deal is not that there are poor people, but that there are poor people we could help and don't.
He was a beautiful, bouncing, baby boy. He entered the world enthusiastically. As an embryo, he seemed to absorb all the energy that surrounded him. Once a fetus, the soon to be "Dennis" delighted in the warmth of his mothers womb. He turned and tumbled as the unborn do when some event in the outside world stimulates a response. Once infant Dennis entered into an Earthbound existence, he was delighted. His brown eyes shone with joy. Little sponge that he was, Dennis showed an instant interest in everything.
Dennis' parents encouraged the young toddler to think. The little lad had zillions of questions. He inquired fervently and frequently. "What does this mean?" Why does this occur? How might that affect him, her, you, or me? The tot cared; he was concerned. Young Dennis was infinitely curious. However, as occurs with most of us, this sweet child began to learn what ultimately deadens the desire we each feel or felt. Dennis discovered that if he were to be accepted and acceptable, he could no longer be the person he was born to be.
August 26, 1920 is a date that lives large in history. Those of the female persuasion may be more familiar with the day; however, few mark it on their calendars. They may instead honor the occasion on the first Tuesday in November, or on another Tuesday in the Spring of the year. On August 26, 1920, women received the right to vote. Since that date the weight of womanly wisdom is exercised on election days.
Americans are proud of their place in history. Those residing in this nation [for the most part] are prosperous. Even citizens of lesser means have more than those in other countries. We, the people often speak of the quality that is America. Our educational institutions are excellent. Health care here is said to be the best in the world. Goods and services could not be better. That is why we often hear ?Buy American.? In the United Sates, we take care of our people, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Americans are financially fat and happy. This country is great! We are known throughout the globe as a, no, the one and only superpower.
Please read the story behind the story and enjoy the video presentation of Robert Frost publicly delivering a poem he did not intend to share at the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Please excuse the prologue commercial advertisement if you are able to "Launch" the video. Actually, on my computer that is all I am able to view. Perhaps the link will work on your machine.
I wish to offer the poem Robert Frost recited from memory at the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I think this elegy it o fitting as we reflect on America and the year as it passes. The words were presented in memorial this Christmas Eve morning on NBC Network News program, "Meet The Press." Poet Robert Frost read the verse on air on Christmas Day 1955.
Some readers were ready to read my underlying message, others glossed over it. People responded; yet, they did not. I realize it is easier to see what is external to our selves. Looking at our own "stuff" can be far more stressful than dissecting what is happening to others. Nevertheless, I think we must discuss what is occurring in our own backyards.
"Forty years later, the schools in this part of town are among the lowest achieving anywhere in the city.
Forty years later, the unemployment rate is the highest of anywhere in the city." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
August 11, 2005 was the anniversary of the infamous Watts riots. There were celebrations, an acknowledgment that time had passed. Yet, for most living in this area, time has stood still. There was little or nothing to celebrate. Life in the neighborhood is virtually the same. For those living in this Los Angeles community, some forty years have gone by and little has changed.
The Watts area, a section of South Central Los Angeles, is still symbolic of life in the "slums" of America. Poverty leads to greater poverty.
Conditions today are as they were in August 1965, horrendous. Then, more than half the residents were unemployed. One quarter of the households were receiving welfare. In 2005, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa suggests circumstances are similar.
Each day we hear talk; we are experiencing a housing bubble and it will have to burst. There are those that say rising prices is the history of housing. The cost of housing steadily increases and has for the last fifty years. As the growing population grows so too does the cost of homeownership. Demand is high, supply attempts to follow. Wall Street Journal, David Wessel writes, The Fed Starts to Show Concern At Signs of a Bubble in Housing
With the advent of low and no interest home mortgages, the possibility of acquiring a house increases. Please reflect upon, Los Angeles Times, by David Streitfeld, They're In - but Not Home Free.
With this boost, the likelihood of bankruptcy is also amplified. Bankruptcy filings are up 370% in the last 20 years. The effects of a global economy also contribute to the possibility of insolvency. Fewer Americans are employed in stable positions. Job security is a misnomer Careers that last for a lifetime increasingly are disappearing.
Fewer people pursue profession callings, they find it difficult to follow their passion. People often take jobs for practical reasons. Employment contracts are temporary, if they exist at all. Most Americans will find themselves out of work for a time and that period is longer than it was in the past. An article published in the Chicago Tribune, after this treatise was posted, advances understanding. Please consider, White-collar Jobless Blues, by Barbara Rose.
During that time, and even during better times, bills can mount. Consumers buy on credit. They hope to keep collectors at bay, and yet, the creditors come. The stress that societal conditions create affects health. Costly illnesses are the cause for almost half of all personal bankruptcies.
Many Americans discover that their health is not as they desire. Close to half of United States citizens are "using" prescribed drugs. It is said, medications are over prescribed. Doctors fear lawsuits if they do not attend to patient needs or requests. Numerous patients are demanding drugs. Television and radio commercials tell them to.
Drug companies play to people's doubts, profoundly. Consumers come to believe that if they need to urinate during the night, then, they need to take a pill. If they want to have great physical "intimacy" a tablet is required. To sleep well, a person must swallow a pill or two. Prevention is not proposed; medication is.
In 2005, life is a bubble. We live in a world where all is exaggerated, extravagant, and easily broken. People drift, they float and they fear stability is fleeting. It is. Please read, If America Is Richer, Why Are Its Families So Much Less Secure?, Los Angeles Times.
"What we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as insoluble problems." John Gardner [Architect of the "Great Society"]
In 1965, President Lyndon Banes Johnson spoke of the Great Society. He proposed a world of abundance and liberty for all. He spoke of an end to poverty. President Johnson envisioned the Great Society as "a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods."
However, instead of building a Great Society, we built a Garage Society. We enter them, we exit them, we fill them, and they fulfill us, they are a "must-have." For, if we own a garage, we own a home, and that is the American Dream. In this culture of garages, people no longer sit out on their porches; they no longer know, let alone see their neighbors. Neighbors are not heard; there is no sense of community. We are transient, transfixed by technology, and have little time or concern for the plight of others. However, there are those without garages. They live in low cost condominiums, apartments, hotels, or on the streets.
Today few can afford a house or a town-home; even apartment living is expensive. Prices continue to rise. The lack of affordable housing affects many. 30 million Americans experience housing burdens; cost is the greatest among these. More than 13 million households devote more than half of their income to housing expenses.
Many, about 6.1 million live in homes where the number of people cohabitating is greater than the number of rooms.
For every seven poor families, one lives in a home that is has no electricity or hot water. Many families do not have bathing facilities or toilets. In a country of opulence, these people go unnoticed.
We do not see the poor, the struggling, or even those under financial pressure as we leave our garages. We travel the freeways, and we overlook what we do not wish to ponder. With thanks to these constructions we need not be reminded of what is for others. There is no reason to consider what, in a time of crisis, could become of us. We put it out of sight, and out of mind. We are not a great society; we are a civilization of lost dreams.
On May 25, 2005, MaxSpeak spoke of Fannie, Freddie, and of course Alan Greenspan. Each of these helps to explain why our Greater Society is one of Garages and people living with less. Please read and reflect upon, WHY ALAN GREENSPAN IS UNFIT FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.
This is a piece worth reading. Please ponder the words of Mark Thoma, Economist View. He writes JFK Gives Advice to Washington
Time passes and people continue to reflect on The American Dream. Please read the thoughts offered by others http://www.pacificvi... >Living the American Dream Pacific Views
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