The Bill of Rights and Why The American Dream Is No More
The American Dream really doesn’t exist any more.
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. These amendments guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. Originally they applied only to the federal government, however, most were subsequently applied to the government of each state by way of the Fourteenth Amendment, through incorporation. Prior to 1925, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine, most provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the state and local governments.
I think that while you’ll find most support the Bill of Rights, the American Dream it ensured seems to be finished. The curtain of governance has been pulled back via the internet. Information is quick to access and everyone can look up history or talk with people who agree or disagree with them. There is a disillusionment in seeing how the sausage is actually made.
The American Dream
It will be revived once the economic and financial needs of people are met so they can once again afford homes and families. Elected officials need to make a very strong case that their policies will do that, or a wave of populism must bring in those who can promise the same. Whether they can succeed is altogether another question.
The “Free” Market
The American Dream requires a market economy with plenty of opportunities. I don’t believe we have a truly free market economy. I also don’t believe that there are enough opportunities. I don’t advocate for a command economy where the government controls production and employment 100%, but the reality is the average person is at a disadvantage when it comes to success. People are falling out of the middle class and employment is becoming harder to find especially for unskilled labor. There will always be anecdotal success stories of people making it big from nothing. I just believe the opportunities will be fewer and farer between as time progresses.
We’re Playing Monopoly
The average person begins to play a game of monopoly where bankers already control most of the property and wealth and also are in charge of the bank and get to print their own money. Thanks to the fact that money is now the same as free speech, they also get to write the rules of the game as it is played. I’d say the average player is at a distinct disadvantage compared to the ruling elite of the game. This is why the American Dream is hard to believe in: the game is rigged from the start.
Opportunity
I do believe that there is opportunity for some, if not super majority, to advance with hard work. What I do see closing, though, is the opportunities for those who were born at a disadvantage even if it is only geographic. I also see the ability to get a home and start a family being much harder than it was in the past. Child care is expensive and most are caught in the “two income trap” where both parents have to work to keep the household functional. Parents these days also have to allocate more resources to get a child educated (should they go to college) in order to give their child the ability to start their adult life with the skills necessary to get ahead with a much greater chance and start a family of their own without a mortgage’s worth of debt. These issues are making the dream of homeownership and a family of more than one child much harder to obtain in a responsible manner.
Job Training
I think it’s primarily a losing issue when it comes to training Americans without formal education (college) for jobs in a rapidly advancing, global economy. Training requires money which has to come from somewhere. The cost-benefit analysis of training may prove to become further negative with time. When I look at the rate of people dropping out of the work force combined with technological advances and the effects of free trade and the reduction of the middle class I can only come to the conclusion that there may not be the need for full employment. The demand for employees might just not be there and what’s left is the dregs, minimum wage jobs where the average age is 35 currently. Employers could do the training. Such a move would be great from the employee standpoint, but I’m not sure it would be competitive.
Most Americans embrace the Bill of Rights, but you will get some differences of opinion on exactly how they should be applied. Remember, the Founding Fathers lived in a very different time. They couldn’t have imagined 21st Century American society in their wildest dreams. Dismissing 250 years of cultural change and scientific advancement seems pretty short-sighted. 250 years ago a 17-year-old and a 70-year-old could relate to one another on mutually understandable terms. Not so today. Now, we may differ on how to solve these issues, but I think we all agree there is room for improvement.
