Are you a domestic terrorist?

[Nystul]

I am not proposing that, I am making an observation. The observation is that 'the american dream' (let's for simplicity define that as becoming so rich you and your children might not have to work anymore when you would choose so) is easier reached by becoming some moronic big brother character or untalented but pretty singer than by working hard, being smart and setting up your own business.
I don't think this is what they had in mind when the coined the expression ' the american dream'.

I don't think the American Dream is about being filthy rich and having trust funds for your kids. My siblings have nice homes, great families, fulfilling jobs, and many freedoms that people in some countries can now take for granted. To me, they've "made it". My oldest niece is in the Air National Guard, plus having a civilian job, to pay her own way to a public college that some might consider mediocre, but she has plenty of opportunity to make a nice life for herself.

I think about our ancestors (German immigrant farmers) and many of the immigrants still coming from Mexico or elsewhere. I'm sure some were after gold or trying to make millions in pro baseball or whatever. But I think the vast majority were trying to get out of poverty or oppression and get a decent life where there family had space to live and food on the table and freedom to do the things they wanted to do. To me, that's the American dream. It may be that a poor family in Germany today wouldn't have to travel halfway around the world to find that. There has been some progress in the past 200 years in Europe, I'd imagine. :whistling:

It does seem that there is some part of American culture in this age that is self-destructive in search of the dream. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an offensive lineman in the NFL. It turns out, I'm about 8 inches too short and 150 pounds too light. :lol: But fortunately I grew up in a family where you had to take your studies seriously, work hard, and respect authority. So when the football thing didn't work out, I wasn't a high school dropout selling drugs on the street corner. Maybe things haven't gone according to plan (and not just the football thing), but it's far from a bad life. In some communities, you've parents spending money they can't afford on the Super Lotto, while their kids are putting all of their effort into basketball, and it's all just one big gamble. Then there is a lot of blame on politicians, racism, bad public schools, etc. I can't help but feel like the kids' biggest disadvantage in many of these cases is having a bunch of really lousy role models.