Dakota Beacon

Many people are proud to be American. A confused few, however, not so much.

Here is a point in case. Gregory Clark is an economics professor at the University of California at Davis. He may be happy to live in America, but he doesn’t sound like he is pleased with his country.

Six months ago CBS aired “There Is No American Dream” in which was touted Clark’s assertion: “The so-called American Dream – where hard work leads to more opportunities – is an illusion in the United States.” Again, “America has no higher rate of social mobility than medieval England.”

In its 2014 annual listing of the 400 wealthiest individuals, Forbes identified 276, or 69 percent of the 400, as self-made billionaires. Of all millionaires, 80 percent are first generation wealthy. This is a profound shift in data relating to the American Dream. Over the past thirty years inherited wealth declined while self-made fortunes increased.

The American Dream is alive. It has allowed ordinary people to prosper through their own efforts while pursuing their goals and aspirations. There is upward mobility so people are not stuck in one class. People are not limited to the station in life into which they were born. If given freedom they can improve their lot in life through hard work and sacrifice ultimately achieving the American Dream.

If the government is to be the primary source of goods and services for many people, it has been demonstrated that those people will remain poor. The government does not generate or manufacture goods and services. It creates no wealth. Only the private sector creates wealth. This implies the government must take from some to give to others. And we know where that leads. Every socialist and communist government practicing this principle has failed. Why should the American Dream be forsaken and replaced with a failed system? For this there is no justification.

Denying the American Dream affirms a perpetual underclass that liberals and progressives need and desire. Power-mongers find it much easier to recruit from within the ranks of a dissatisfied underclass sustained by Democrat policies and administrations. Look at any large dilapidated city run almost exclusively by Democrats and observe the results of liberal policies. Take a good, long look at how liberal policies swell the ranks of a miserable populace with permanent grievances.

This is not the American Dream. This is all government all of the time. It is axiomatic that the larger the government the more incompetent the regulation of people’s lives. It underscores the principle on which our federal government was founded -- limited self-government administered at the lowest level. Those who comprise the permanent underclass dependent on the federal government for all their needs remain stuck in an endless cycle of dependency. With the help of the Democrat Party they have come to believe the world is aligned against them and that they don’t have a chance without liberal and progressive help. As long as they keep voting the same local, state and federal liberals into office, they will not have the opportunity to experience the American Dream.

Progressive Democrats pronounce the American Dream dead intending to replace it with their brand of compassion, and an artificial compassion at that. This artificial compassion is imposed by the liberal wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. Their brand of compassion is forced on Americans under penalty of law supposedly for our own good. How compassionate is it to be required to purchase health insurance we cannot afford to cover illnesses we may never suffer and be treated by doctors we are not allowed to choose?

America has been sold a bill of goods for many decades in the name of compassion. This amounts to the equal redistribution of misery – a truly morbid form of compassion. The liberal attempt to substitute the American Dream with their sense of compassion is effectively little more than malice.

No, the American Dream is not dead. Although the attempt has been made to hijack and subjugate it to progressive liberal ideology, the American Dream lives on.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).