Boot Straps? They Don't Even Have Shoes!

The Republican philosophy of rugged individualism is part of American folklore.  It's John Wayne and apple pie all rolled into one and it is easy to sell to the American voters.  It makes a good soundbite and it plays upon our sense of the underdog who can overcome all obstactles in this country.  It might even be true in a few isolated instances but, for the most part, it is simply more an American myth today.

There was a time when immigrants came to this land of opportunity, worked hard, lived frugally, and saved every penny.  It was a common story in almost every immigrant family who came here in the twentieth century.  In my own family, my father earned a meager living during the depression, made less than a dollar a week, and was able to survive.  Later in life, with just a high school diploma earned at night, he owned seven houses and never made more than twenty two thousand dollars a year.  Yes, you were able to pull yourself up from your bootstraps without government assistance.  He accomplished the American dream because he was smart, industrious, and frugal and he was in a very small minority among his friends and family.  When my parents passed on, each of their three children were given a house with no mortgage.  No one in my circle of friends was as fortunate as I was.

Today I make ten times what my father earned and can't match his accomplishments.  Times have certainly changed.  Immigrants today still work very hard for very little money but their expenses are astronomical.  The cost of rent, food, transportation, utilities, and medical expenses are cost prohibitive.  Their salaries are barely covering basic needs.  There is simply nothing left at the end of the week.  Yes, they live frugally  as my parents did, but they never get ahead.  Like most of the working poor today, they barely make ends meet.  Why?  When you look at the data for the last fifty years it is obvious.  The rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

So today, when people need it the most, Republicans want to dismantle the social safety net.  They manipulated the economy in favor of the upper class with their supply side economics, and continue to protect the wealthy against higher taxes at the expense of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs like unemployment insurance.  Why should the wealthy pay for these programs that they will never use?  Today the deck is stacked against the poor and lower middle class.  They don't even have the shoes, never mind the bootstraps. Comparing America before Ronald Reagan and after are two different worlds.  Look at what has happened to our country.  Wake up, America!