is that all our mourning and name-calling and gnashing of teeth, sorta plays right in to the Republican narrative.
As some of us now say "I am sorry I ever voted for Kerry" that just allows all of the Bush voters of 2004 to say "tolda ya so".
One thing that was a huge setback though was - the elections of 2010. Republican obstruction paid off at the polls.
I also would take issue with your definition of the American Dream. If the American Dream is of class mobility, then it deserves to die. After all, class mobility in the upward direction is only possible if there is class mobility in the downward direction. Only 5% of the population can be in the top 5%. Anybody who gets into that group from the bottom 95% means that one of the 5% has fallen out of that group.
I prefer the Herbert Hoover vision - a chicken in EVERY pot. Meaning a good life for all. The second part of his campaign though, promised also "a car in every garage".
I was watching a PBS show about Henry Ford, and it sorta struck me. At one point, they said that mass ownership of automobiles changed American society - made it greedier. No longer was the ideal a sort of easy country life of laid back simple pleasures. Now people wanted to go exciting places and do exciting things.
Now the good life as pictured by the average American goes way beyond chicken or cars. It includes an ipad, a plasma TV with surround sound, a DVR, cable television, two or three cars per family, central air, microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, electric can openers, and so on and so on.
Plus, a constantly growing population. Are we on pace to reach 12 billion by 2050? Maybe not. The UN is projecting a peak of 10 billion or so by 2050.
But I go back to a quote from Gandhi - the earth supplies enough for every man's need, not for every man's greed.
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