Opportunity Economics and the American Dream Part 2

Nelson Mandela once said, "Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” Nelson Mandela's wisdom was based on experience. He was someone who experienced poverty but I don't think there is anyone who knows anything about Mandela who could possibly come to the conclusion that he lacked work ethic or believed in a society where everyone laid around and lived off of the government's teet. Just as anyone who has lived in poverty, he witnessed the causes of poverty first hand and when you understand the cause, you have the knowledge necessary to create the solution.

Liberals are often falsely characterized as wanting to end poverty by taking from the rich and giving to the poor and rewarding those who don't work with the spoils of those who do. This claim is one of the greatest lies ever promulgated by conservatives and it is designed to deter people from the real underlying socioeconomic issues. What Liberals really believe in, is an economic system based on opportunity for all and by avoiding the real question, Republicans have been able to completely bypass the ultimate reality of why the American Dream is turning into the American Nightmare. The reason for growing poverty in America is not the result of lacking work ethic, it is the net result of a deficit in economic opportunity.

There was a time not long ago when a person could be born in the poorest of circumstances and if they worked hard, they could make it into the middle or even upper class. It was a time when Americans trusted their government and the government was at the service of the people. During this time, America did big things like building an interstate highway system and landing on the moon. The reason America prospered was because there was an economic ladder put in place for people to pull themselves out of poverty and get a proper education. In short, America was a bottom up economy with a strong middle class where everyone prospered. Many Americans today say, "What happened to the day when a man could go to work for a factory and make enough money to support his family and even save a little money for his kids to go to college?"

The answer is conspicuous and requires only a simple observation of the correlation between the economic policies and trends of the past 30 years. The conservatives are desperately trying to convince a skeptical nation that the reason life is harder than it used to be is because of the excessive taxation and choking regulation placed on business owners by commie liberals. But if one makes the effort to place this empty claim under the microscope of reality, one will find that taxes for business owners are at historic lows and America is the fourth least regulated country on the planet. The reason for America's problems are much deeper than Conservatives want Americans to believe.