if you want, you can read My American Dream - part 1
Work should have dignity. All who want to work should be able to, in jobs which pay livable wages, in working circumstances which are not abusive, in situations which do not subject workers to health and environmental risks.
In my American dream employment is a greater priority than tax cuts.
In my American dream the rights of those willing to work are at least the equal of the fictional persons known as corporations.
In my American dream every worker every place would have a right to organize so that the bargaining over the terms of employment is balanced.
In my American dream any corporation that breaks the law - employment or otherwise - would find its managers and corporate officers and directors legally responsible - for civil as well as criminal damages. Maybe then they would not abuse those of us whose labor actually creates wealth.
But there is much more to my American Dream - part II.
In my American Dream there would be equal if not greater tax breaks for actual work as for passive investment.
In my American Dream the society - through its governments - would assume the responsibility of a decent paying job for every person willing to work: 5% unemployment would no longer be considered "full employment"
In my American Dream employers would be limited in the amount of overtime they could demand of employees rather than hiring additional employees - and if they want to complain about the cost of benefits, then let them support expansion of Medicare and Social Security and have us move to true single payer health care insurance
In my American Dream if the governments cannot provide a job for someone willing to work such persons would be given income support sufficient on which to live without time limits - no more 99ers - and that would be accompanied by credit towards Social Security and full coverage for medical insurance.
In my American Dream the bankruptcy laws would be rewritten to function as originally intended - to provide a meaningful new start for individuals, and not a means for corporations to walk away from their obligations to benefit of their shareholders.
In my American Dream we would revisit the definition of a person, to go back to the original intent (are you listening Antonin Scalia) of the Founders to have that mean living, breathing human beings, only with our expanded understanding that there should be no discrimination by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or lack thereof, or national origin.
In my American Dream we would remember our own ancestors, not all of whom came and stayed here legally, but came because they wanted the economic and political and personal benefits of living in a liberal democracy.
In my American Dream there would be no privatizing of what should be basic civic functions - police, military, schools, trash collection, water and sewer services, public roads. There are things more important than the maximization of profits for the few who already have too much.
I am 65.
I have lived through too many wars, none of which were declared - Korea, Vietnam, invasions of Latin American nations and of Lebanon, twice in Iraq, now in Afghanistan.
I have seen too many killed and injured far too often for the political theology and profits of too few.
I have seen a nation expand the American Dream through civil rights, civil liberties, the Great Society, the creation of agencies to meet public needs even under Richard Nixon.
But I have also seen a nation and a society willing to trade on hatred of "the other" - and too willing to roll back the advances because some felt threatened by no longer having a privileged position.
I fear that when I look around I am experiencing an American Nightmare.
I want to reclaim the American Dream. For ALL whether they be birthright Americans or those who seek to join this wonderful and still incomplete experiment.
In his eulogy for his slain brother Bobby, Ted Kennedy offered a variant of a quote from George Bernard Shaw: Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?
John Lennon, in his powerful song "Imagine," offered these words in his chorus:
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
I am a dreamer.
I believed in hope long before it became the theme of a first term senator running for President.
And perhaps some Richard Kiley is applicable, if you will forgive the brief intro:
Peace.