Land of the Free (At least that's what it used to be...)

I, like most Americans, was taught in school that what made our country great is that it welcomed people of every background and social status, that they were all allowed access to what we vaguely refer to as the American Dream. I've realized in the years since I was a child that this dream is primarily (if not exclusively) economic in nature.

Much of me still longs to believe that this America still exists. The fact that I, a poor-among-the-impoverished kid from East Los Angeles, can own a business, raise a family and prosper in this land affirms my belief that America is still the land of opporunity. There is a dark truth, however, that I seem to have been ignorant to for many years now.

Perhaps it is because I am not from an immigrant family. Or perhaps it is because I was foolish enough to believe everything that I was taught in school. Either way, the truth remains that the America that my grandfather nearly died to defend - the America that my little brother now risks his life to defend - the America that I was raised to believe would nurture and protect us all is now dying.

Read this poem:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

That was "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, the poem that is currently inscribed on "Liberty Enlightening the World" - the massive work of art more commonly referred to as the "Statue of Liberty"

This is the America that I was raised to love - but this is America is in the throws of death - and breaks my heart. Don't believe me? Then read this article: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/lovato

It saddens me deeply to read of these abuses of the "American Dream" (I literally shed tears as I read the article), and I fear that it is much to late to make a difference.

But on the off chance that I am wrong - on the off chance that stories like this one will awaken the minds and hearts of a people that have been sedated for too long, I suppose I can continue to share them.