The Cellar - Opinions?

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I thought this was interesting.

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At one time the "American Dream" had little to do with money directly. It used to be the notion that one could go to a free country and achieve everything they were capable of, without governmental hinderence. For some people this was the practice of their non-mainstream religion, for others it was the persuit of philosophies or studies suppressed elsewhere, for other the chance to explore the unknown, and, yes, for some it was the opportunity to persue wealth.

Now, the media have all come together and redefined the "American Dream" solely in terms of the persuit of wealth, even going so far as to equate it with winning the lottery (as if, prior to the 20th century, there had ever even been such an absurd notion).

At one time laws were intended to benefit society, and the production of wealth was but one component in an entire series of concepts which together were required to benefit society (others included free education, libraries, fire department and water services, land grants, etc.) This is not to say society was ideal, as at the same time there were horrific things going on (the enslavement of black Americans, the wholesale theft of land from native Americans, etc.), but only to point out that, at one time, laws and politicians were expected to serve the voting population of the country, and to a fair degree did so.

Now there isn't even the pretense of laws in the United States serving the American public, much less society as a whole. Is it any wonder, with our willingness as individuals (by and large) to sell every ideal down the river in the name of profit and income, that our government, as our representatives, behaves any differently?

George Carlin

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At one time laws were intended to benefit society

Not any more. Thank you big business and Riaa and Mpaa for the DMCA. It just makes my day, knowing that one day my favorite cd wont play on my computer. Innocent until proven guilty? Hardly.

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Now, the media have all come together and redefined the "American Dream" solely in terms of the persuit of wealth

I believe the 'old' American dream is still alive, just not in America. I have heard numerous stories of people working 2+ jobs trying to raise enough money to bring the rest of their family here to the states. And as much as I hate to say this, I think FreeYourself was partly right. We, as most Americans, are not fully aware of what we have. But thats life, you know. No changing that.

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Now there isn't even the pretense of laws in the United States serving the American public, much less society as a whole

I would disagree, but I cant find any examples that prove otherwise. Everything is going under scrutinization, gun laws, abortion(its no place for the gov't to make a decision), personal rights, intellectual property. Its rather sad.

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Is it any wonder, with our willingness as individuals (by and large) to sell every ideal down the river in the name of profit and income, that our government, as our representatives, behaves any differently?

If you wanna see the perfect example of this, take a ride here to Camp Hill. The reasoning is that the bigger the 'toy' is the better you are than everyone else. So you need more money to buy new bigger stuff, Lexusii, homes, BMWs, Mercedes, pools, flashier clothes, whatever. It gets quite annoying once you start noticing and looking for it. And part of this is that people are working for small businesses, for themselves, for their friend, so in order to turn a profit each month they have to sell their soles to the devil (gov't) because they cant go big league. The major corporations have flooded the market, there is no room for anyone else, and they are killing off any small guy that comes along.

As always, thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.