Davison's Doodle

The American Dream

I caught “60 Minutes” last night.  Odd, there were two interviews of wealthy, white men that could have been interchangeable:  one with soon to be Speaker of the House, Rep. Boehner and the other the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones.  Both grew up poor and are now wealthy and powerful.  Both have clear memory and attachment to those memories from childhood.   Though not said, Boehner and Jones clearly think they have risen to places of power because they “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.”

Jones is an overt showman who gives people a good show even when the home team is loosing, badly.  The Dallas Cowboys will never be “lovable losers.”  Rep. Boehner grew up in a small house helping the family bar business and attending mass when the doors were open.  Both men exceeded their families wildest dreams of what success could mean and based on their childhood context “earned” the American dream with no help from nobody.  Though wealthy beyond imagination they both operate from a sense of fear.  If the “American Dream” has anything to do with wealth and power they both own lots of stock or stock options in the dream that is fixed rather than fluid.  It assumes everyone wants: power, money and the opportunities to claim as much of each as you can grab.  Jones didn’t mention faith, beyond the mighty dollar, but Rep. Boehner did and it makes me wonder if he actually listened to the stories from the gospels.  He weeps, authentically or on cue, for the children of America wanting them to have access to the dream and yet sides with and does the work of plutocrats.  He said that becoming Speaker of the House isn’t about him, and yet tearfully relates achieving that status as claiming the American dream.  He may be crying because he feels unworthy, overjoyed the way some beauty pageant winners do when they get the crown, or remorseful for participating in the systems that favor the wealthy over the working class or poor.

My dream is an America where people have access to all the necessities that a make for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Rep. Boehner grew up in a country that bought the work ethic myth and the system was built on the myth.  Today, the myth remains but the systemic opportunities have long sense vanished because government has ceased ensuring a level playing field for all those wanting to work and achieve a dream.  Mr. Speaker, the children of this nation don’t need your tears. They need you to ensure safe water, fair housing, quality public education, fair wages, and ref a fair game.  They need you to apply the rules of the game to the ruling caste as well as the working and the working poor.  That is President Obama’s problem (mistake): he thought that government could shift to being a fair and impartial referee of the systems that make dreaming possible.  Former President Reagan might have made Americans feel better and proud, but he damaged the government that enabled him to achieve.

COMPETING VISIONS OF ‘THE AMERICAN DREAM’
by Steven Benen | Washington Monthly | Dec. 13, 2010
But from where I sit, Boehner’s emotions are irrelevant, and the frequency with which he cries is of no real interest. What I found interesting about the exchange isn’t Boehner’s tears, but rather, his approach to “the American dream” itself.

For example, Boehner seemed entirely sincere about his affection for children. What he didn’t mention is that his budget plan would slash education spending, undermining those schools he can’t bring himself to visit.

But in a more general sense, the incoming Speaker shares his nostalgia for the past fairly often. He lamented not too long ago his notion that Democrats are “snuffing out the America that I grew up in” during the 1950s and 1960s.

As we’ve discussed before, putting aside what that era was like for women and minority groups, the striking thing about such pining is how extraordinarily liberal the country was, economically, during these good ol’ days. The top marginal tax rate was 90% (nearly triple today’s figure); union membership was 30% (more than quadruple today’s figure); the Republican Party, which still had plenty of liberals, endorsed all kinds of progressive ideas (spending projects, living wage); and the economy was heavily regulated — airlines didn’t even set their own prices.