The Rise and Fall of the American Dream
by Brent Johnson
It hurts. It really hurts me deep inside, to entitle this article. It means that I have to admit, totally and with some finality, that the American Dream is dead.
Now don’t go all sappy or something because I’ve gone and said it. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the truth.
Also, my admission does not mean that I am giving up the fight. I will never do that, nor will I ever give up hope. To the contrary, a free man or woman has a duty to fight to remain free; an unfree man or woman has a duty to fight to become free. Either way, when it comes to truth and freedom, I’ve plenty of fight left in me.
The American Dream
But I’d like to return to my earlier statement: that the American Dream is dead. I believe it and I am an American Patriot. The American Dream was born at a time and place where ordinary people were denied basic rights, simply because they were not highborn. The American Dream was of a place where men could live their lives free from government controls, regulations, and taxes. It was a dream about a place where, if you worked hard, you got to make life better for you and your family; where you got to keep the fruit of your own labor. What today most of you take for granted, the original colonists hoped to establish for the first time ever.
The American Dream was for a piece of land - however large or small – that a man could call his own; where he was king, and nobody, especially the government, could tell him what to do. That is the American Dream and as a society, we have all but forgotten it.
The Value of Freedom
In modern America, you would be hard-pressed to find a man or woman - young or old - who really values freedom. As a matter of fact, most people make excuses for why they can’t even think about protecting their rights. "I don’t have time to deal with it right now", "I’ve got obligations that come first", "I have too much to lose", etc.
In all fairness, Americans have been well trained to think about anything else but freedom, so it should be no small wonder this is precisely what happens.
When today’s Americans itemize the things they value, freedom isn’t even on the list. Children value presents, gifts, toys, games, etc. Young adults value electronic gadgets, video games, more toys, musical components, computers, etc. Adults simply value more adult games and toys, cars, jet-skis, vacations, real property, etc. Oh, and their jobs, too. They value that. Most people value their things and stuff.
But what about the greatest and most irreplaceable gift of all? What about your liberty?
Until and unless you value your freedom, you will do nothing to defend an assault upon it. That’s why there are so many regulations, taxes, and controls placed on the exercise of your liberty and property rights; because people haven’t valued their freedoms sufficiently to resist and repel such invasions on their rights.
The Fall of the American Dream
I suspect that the fall began after the War of Northern Aggression/War between the States, sometimes erroneously called The Civil War. It was during this time period that the blood of the True American Patriots, many of whom were directly descended from the original American Revolutionaries, was spilled throughout the land.
The American landscape was drenched in the blood of those who laid their lives down in defense of liberty. That was the beginning of the end of the American Dream. Character of a New America
Those left alive after the War between the States were alive because they did not fight to the death to defend their liberties. This is not a judgment but rather a conclusion based on historical fact.
As a result, the subsequent military takeover of the Union was met with tacit acceptance or very limited resistance by the defeated population. This allowed the government to install all kinds of agencies and activities, all the while circumventing the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Over time, these unauthorized elements became de facto legitimate.
The Great Depression
With the 1929 Crash of Wall Street and the stock market, the American people received another brutal battering, this one at the hands of the banking system.
After a decade of prosperity born from the loosening of credit by the Federal Reserve banks, the notes were all called, causing a run on the banks that resulted in the destruction of the country’s economy. This left the American people badly beaten and very tame.
FDR’s New Deal
The next nail in the coffin was hammered in with President Roosevelt’s infamous Public Law 1 (March 9, 1933), in which he literally declared the American people to be the enemy of the United States! (Actually, government has always been considered "a necessary evil" [Thomas Paine], and has always been the enemy of the people.)
FDR instituted a flurry of unconstitutional agencies, which were quietly accepted by the beaten and docile population. FDR never told the American people that by accepting all of these "gifts" from the U.S. government, they were subjecting themselves to government control. He never told them that by accepting social security, they were waiving their unalienable rights to life, liberty and property. (I cannot help but wonder: if he had told them, would they still have accepted the benefits?)
FDR’s New Deal was a restructuring of the relationship between the people and the government, a shifting of more power from the people to the government. It was a raw deal for the American people and a great deal for the federal government.
Homeland Security
We are now told that this is the age of "Homeland Security" and that in pursuit of peace we may need to give up some of our liberties. The age-old argument between security and liberty has been given a modern slant: that in order to combat terrorism (the current "buzz-word" for something too terrible to even discuss) we must do everything within our powers, including sacrificing the unalienable rights that our forefathers fought and died to establish for us.
Are the American people too beaten and battered to see that surrendering freedom for security yields neither freedom nor security? Have we as a people been sufficiently cowed over the decades and even centuries, to the point that we will meekly submit ourselves to voluntary, abject servitude? Do we have any fight left in us or is "Homeland Security" the final nail in our freedom-coffin?
Can We Regain the American Dream?
The American people have become more and more used to having their government take care of them. They have become used to social security, government health care, unemployment insurance, food stamps, education, welfare, and the endless stream of government grants, benefits and social programs that are available.
Americans are ingrained in how they perceive their society. Or are they?
More Americans than ever before are indelibly committed - mind, body, soul - to the socialist system that has been employed in the United States for the last seventy years. However, it is also true that more Americans than ever before are waking up to the fact that they have been deceived, and that they do have options. Growing numbers are realizing that freedom is more valuable than government benefits and privileges, and are taking steps to secure their liberty and property rights. A substantial fighting force of Real Americans with character is evolving.
The American Dream may be dead but it can be resurrected. All it takes is faith and determination by people of high moral character. If the message of the value of freedom and self-determination spreads to enough such people, we can and will reclaim America as the Land of the Free, and restore government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
It hurts. It really hurts me deep inside, to entitle this article. It means that I have to admit, totally and with some finality, that the American Dream is dead.
Now don’t go all sappy or something because I’ve gone and said it. It’s not the end of the world. It’s just the truth.
Also, my admission does not mean that I am giving up the fight. I will never do that, nor will I ever give up hope. To the contrary, a free man or woman has a duty to fight to remain free; an unfree man or woman has a duty to fight to become free. Either way, when it comes to truth and freedom, I’ve plenty of fight left in me.
The American Dream
But I’d like to return to my earlier statement: that the American Dream is dead. I believe it and I am an American Patriot. The American Dream was born at a time and place where ordinary people were denied basic rights, simply because they were not highborn. The American Dream was of a place where men could live their lives free from government controls, regulations, and taxes. It was a dream about a place where, if you worked hard, you got to make life better for you and your family; where you got to keep the fruit of your own labor. What today most of you take for granted, the original colonists hoped to establish for the first time ever.
The American Dream was for a piece of land - however large or small – that a man could call his own; where he was king, and nobody, especially the government, could tell him what to do. That is the American Dream and as a society, we have all but forgotten it.
The Value of Freedom
In modern America, you would be hard-pressed to find a man or woman - young or old - who really values freedom. As a matter of fact, most people make excuses for why they can’t even think about protecting their rights. "I don’t have time to deal with it right now", "I’ve got obligations that come first", "I have too much to lose", etc.
In all fairness, Americans have been well trained to think about anything else but freedom, so it should be no small wonder this is precisely what happens.
When today’s Americans itemize the things they value, freedom isn’t even on the list. Children value presents, gifts, toys, games, etc. Young adults value electronic gadgets, video games, more toys, musical components, computers, etc. Adults simply value more adult games and toys, cars, jet-skis, vacations, real property, etc. Oh, and their jobs, too. They value that. Most people value their things and stuff.
But what about the greatest and most irreplaceable gift of all? What about your liberty?
Until and unless you value your freedom, you will do nothing to defend an assault upon it. That’s why there are so many regulations, taxes, and controls placed on the exercise of your liberty and property rights; because people haven’t valued their freedoms sufficiently to resist and repel such invasions on their rights.
The Fall of the American Dream
I suspect that the fall began after the War of Northern Aggression/War between the States, sometimes erroneously called The Civil War. It was during this time period that the blood of the True American Patriots, many of whom were directly descended from the original American Revolutionaries, was spilled throughout the land.
The American landscape was drenched in the blood of those who laid their lives down in defense of liberty. That was the beginning of the end of the American Dream. Character of a New America
Those left alive after the War between the States were alive because they did not fight to the death to defend their liberties. This is not a judgment but rather a conclusion based on historical fact.
As a result, the subsequent military takeover of the Union was met with tacit acceptance or very limited resistance by the defeated population. This allowed the government to install all kinds of agencies and activities, all the while circumventing the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Over time, these unauthorized elements became de facto legitimate.
The Great Depression
With the 1929 Crash of Wall Street and the stock market, the American people received another brutal battering, this one at the hands of the banking system.
After a decade of prosperity born from the loosening of credit by the Federal Reserve banks, the notes were all called, causing a run on the banks that resulted in the destruction of the country’s economy. This left the American people badly beaten and very tame.
FDR’s New Deal
The next nail in the coffin was hammered in with President Roosevelt’s infamous Public Law 1 (March 9, 1933), in which he literally declared the American people to be the enemy of the United States! (Actually, government has always been considered "a necessary evil" [Thomas Paine], and has always been the enemy of the people.)
FDR instituted a flurry of unconstitutional agencies, which were quietly accepted by the beaten and docile population. FDR never told the American people that by accepting all of these "gifts" from the U.S. government, they were subjecting themselves to government control. He never told them that by accepting social security, they were waiving their unalienable rights to life, liberty and property. (I cannot help but wonder: if he had told them, would they still have accepted the benefits?)
FDR’s New Deal was a restructuring of the relationship between the people and the government, a shifting of more power from the people to the government. It was a raw deal for the American people and a great deal for the federal government.
Homeland Security
We are now told that this is the age of "Homeland Security" and that in pursuit of peace we may need to give up some of our liberties. The age-old argument between security and liberty has been given a modern slant: that in order to combat terrorism (the current "buzz-word" for something too terrible to even discuss) we must do everything within our powers, including sacrificing the unalienable rights that our forefathers fought and died to establish for us.
Are the American people too beaten and battered to see that surrendering freedom for security yields neither freedom nor security? Have we as a people been sufficiently cowed over the decades and even centuries, to the point that we will meekly submit ourselves to voluntary, abject servitude? Do we have any fight left in us or is "Homeland Security" the final nail in our freedom-coffin?
Can We Regain the American Dream?
The American people have become more and more used to having their government take care of them. They have become used to social security, government health care, unemployment insurance, food stamps, education, welfare, and the endless stream of government grants, benefits and social programs that are available.
Americans are ingrained in how they perceive their society. Or are they?
More Americans than ever before are indelibly committed - mind, body, soul - to the socialist system that has been employed in the United States for the last seventy years. However, it is also true that more Americans than ever before are waking up to the fact that they have been deceived, and that they do have options. Growing numbers are realizing that freedom is more valuable than government benefits and privileges, and are taking steps to secure their liberty and property rights. A substantial fighting force of Real Americans with character is evolving.
The American Dream may be dead but it can be resurrected. All it takes is faith and determination by people of high moral character. If the message of the value of freedom and self-determination spreads to enough such people, we can and will reclaim America as the Land of the Free, and restore government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
