The Wealthy are Winning
A requiem is defined as an act of token or remembrance. Chomsky infamously titles his book, "Requiem for the American Dream", to suggest that the American Dream is only something of the past. He argues that although inequality is something that existed throughout American history, it has never reached the extent that we face today. He states, "There were periods like the Gilded Age in the 1890s and the Roaring Twenties and so on, when a situation developed rather similar to this, but the current period is extreme". This statement places a gap between our perception of inequality back in the day to not being so severe to something that is on a whole other level that we face currently.
That is a very interesting thing to state because a core concept of the American Dream is that everybody has equal opportunity and thus there is equality within our country. But to point out the severe inequalities largely resulted by American policies supporting the extra-wealthy is a bit of a slap in the face to those who support the American Dream. However, I believe that Chomsky's criticisms are a necessary attack to the bright and optimistic perspective of the American Dream which only suggests that there is always room for improvement.
In democratic countries, there is a clash between a desire for influence between the wealthy/powerful and pretty much everybody else. Chomsky does a great job pointing out how the wealthy have gained a much larger upper hand over the normal American. This is significantly a result of policies that have shifted in favor of the wealthy. My point is, Chomksy's criticisms should not be attributed with the notion of the American Dream because his comments only are attacks to the nature of a country with different groups of people wanting to succeed. It is unfortunate that wealthy people have a significantly larger influence on policy than the normal person, but that is why I state that these are necessary criticisms. I believe that Chomsky says these things because he wants to raise light to the American Dream and revive it by bringing awareness of what's really going on within this country.
In the end of the day, Chomsky's points are sad but they are unfortunately true. The majority of people in America struggle to find success as a result of the large inequalities that exist within our economy. Of course some people are still able to achieve their American Dream aside from this, but a much larger quantity are faced with consistent obstacles because of it as well. I hope that policies in the future will act towards supporting the middle class and everybody else that is not extremely wealthy because these inequalities are striking America's core by burning bridges of opportunity for everybody else.
That is a very interesting thing to state because a core concept of the American Dream is that everybody has equal opportunity and thus there is equality within our country. But to point out the severe inequalities largely resulted by American policies supporting the extra-wealthy is a bit of a slap in the face to those who support the American Dream. However, I believe that Chomsky's criticisms are a necessary attack to the bright and optimistic perspective of the American Dream which only suggests that there is always room for improvement.
In democratic countries, there is a clash between a desire for influence between the wealthy/powerful and pretty much everybody else. Chomsky does a great job pointing out how the wealthy have gained a much larger upper hand over the normal American. This is significantly a result of policies that have shifted in favor of the wealthy. My point is, Chomksy's criticisms should not be attributed with the notion of the American Dream because his comments only are attacks to the nature of a country with different groups of people wanting to succeed. It is unfortunate that wealthy people have a significantly larger influence on policy than the normal person, but that is why I state that these are necessary criticisms. I believe that Chomsky says these things because he wants to raise light to the American Dream and revive it by bringing awareness of what's really going on within this country.
In the end of the day, Chomsky's points are sad but they are unfortunately true. The majority of people in America struggle to find success as a result of the large inequalities that exist within our economy. Of course some people are still able to achieve their American Dream aside from this, but a much larger quantity are faced with consistent obstacles because of it as well. I hope that policies in the future will act towards supporting the middle class and everybody else that is not extremely wealthy because these inequalities are striking America's core by burning bridges of opportunity for everybody else.
Good post, Ronald. I wonder how long we can sustain this level of income disparity, or if this will lead to greater inequality in other aspects.
ReplyDelete