In just over four years we managed to downgrade our national credit and the American Dream. The goal used to be wealth and success. Now Americans are told we should strive to be members of the middle class (see: Presidential Powers Threaten From Ruined Illinois).
There is only so much money to go around, a liberal conundrum that makes it hard to figure out how the government can support everyone with the resources at hand. With the late summer cease fire on Capitol Hill almost over, we are about to return to the same battle between liberal politics promising to restore a downgraded version of the American Dream and the fiscal sanity that could still salvage what we used to hope for.
Here are five ways liberal politics has downgraded the American Dream. You are going to be hearing different takes on all of these in just a few short weeks.
Abusing presidential powers because liberal politics demands it.
Remember why August 15th was special? Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez does. He nailed it when he made this remark about the one year anniversary of DACA:
When we get a broader immigration bill passed this year, it is going to require a massive civil undertaking to get people in the system and on the books, but DACA was a good dress rehearsal.¹
DACA got past Republicans without a single congressional vote. All it took was a signature on one of the president’s executive orders. With over 400,000 requests for deferred action approved, the Democratic dress rehearsal for amnesty is in full swing because the necessity of liberal politics to put up the American Dream for sale with immigration reform demanded it.
Ignore education because liberal sacred cows come first.
With the new school year starting remember one thing: your kids don’t matter. If you think all the hysteria over falling behind the world in educational achievement has something to do with education, look at the solutions. More money. Collaboration with unions. Higher teacher salaries. We tried all that here in Illinois. Look what it got us.
Liberal politics dumps business for leftist economics.
Government health care rationing (see: Socialized Medicine? Rationing Health Care is the American Way), empowering labor, and growing the government workforce. We’ve seen it in countries around the world and it all ends in the same place. Why does Obama’s home state keep popping up when we talk about bad economic policy? Did you know that the capital of Greece is a sister city of Chicago? Go figure.
Spending on minorities is big business.
Liberal politics loves minorities, the more disadvantaged the better. Why is it that no matter how many federal giveaways we fund, programs we develop, and laws we pass to enforce equality, things don’t seem to get better for groups politicians target for government support?
Spending on minorities benefits activists, community organizations, and get out the vote campaigns. The simple truth is that the American Dream isn’t as cheap and easy as everyone would like. Confusing opportunity with government handouts and punishing businesses that “didn’t build that” only adds to the failure of leftist economics endorsed by Democrats and the White House.
Leveling the field defiles ideals America is based on.
Whether you love this country or despise it, America is based on a handful of ideals that are pretty simple and straightforward. Only citizens should vote. The government should not step in and take what it wants from you and hand it to others. The will of the majority means something (a real majority, not the “most Americans” politicians refer to). As these ideals vanish so does our national identity. Making this country just like other countries may satisfy liberal values that insist we level the playing field at home and abroad, but those values have never been part of the real American Dream, only the cheap, downgraded version we are being sold in the name of progress.