THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE, PINATA

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot help the few who are rich” – John F. Kennedy

We love the American Dream….the rags to riches stories…the great American Immigrant stories….Wal Mart, Steve Jobs…Bruce Springsteen, etc….

But, it is increasingly clear that not all roads lead to glory…and perhaps more so than ever, the American Dream seems like a fantasy for most.

The birthright of all children---the celebration of breaking the piñata during a birthday party….with all your friends surrounding you…

Now, imagine a giant piñata…with hundreds of millions of people standing around it….all trying to get the “candy” when it bursts out.

Do you remember how things work when a piñata breaks? Everyone makes a pell mell leap for the candy…going to their knees…grabbing in the grass, scrambling. It’s an exercise in selfishness...it’s downright ugly….but if you are far away from the piñata when it breaks…how do you get anywhere near the front of the line, near the candy…?

Our form of capitalism seems much like a giant piñata…

If you are born white, or born wealthy, or born highly intelligent, or charismatic, or physically attractive…you will likely be near the front rows of that giant piñata when it breaks, or you will be able to move up from the back…there will be plenty of candy for the taking….and little fear that someone from the distant rows…(way in the background)…will have a chance to take any of it—any of (your) candy.

If you were born in Compton, or an impoverished town in West Virginia, or your parents were coal miners, or if you were brought up by a single mom because your father took the road of abandonment then your chances of being at the back...far, far away from the bursting candy, are almost guaranteed. You might end up like Barack Obama, and rise from a single parent family because of your high intelligence and charisma..or you could be like Larry Bird who grew up in poverty in rural Indiana and whose father committed suicide when he was a teen. Bird had legendary athletic skills.

And, what determines who gets closest to that piñata? Would you, if you were at a kid’s party…allow 2, or 3, or 4 kids to take all of the candy before anyone had a chance to grab any?, just because they pushed their way to the front, or because they were faster at grabbing candy…quicker…less polite when going after the candy?

If you are so far away from the piñata that you can hardly see it…why would you feel like you have a chance at the Red, White, and Blue piñata? Some that are far away might try and use brute force to get to the front..knowing that this is there only chance…those might get punished, some will get rewarded …others might just give up….

Imagine this optic….the piñata breaks…and just the front few rows get candy..those in the very front get an incredible amount of the candy….more than they could eat in 100 lifetimes..yet, they have no problem walking back to their car, with their giant bags of candy…chuckling, as they pass the masses who will go home with empty bags…

We wouldn’t allow that at a kid’s party….we would think it quite unsavory that parents would allow this at a party…and even equally unpleasant that a kid with all the candy wouldn’t share some of his…to those who were more timid, less forceful, further away…

Some people find a way to get to the front rows from far back…they struggle…and somehow get to where they can grab substantial amounts of candy…but, that is the “needle in the haystack”

Why are so many, who have so much (candy)…so unwilling to care about those who are left almost nothing? How do people with so much, who know how much they could do voluntarily to help so many struggling family and children, how do those people look in the mirror at night? It almost seems like their number one priority when voting for a political candidate is making sure that none of their (candy) will be unduly taken away….it’s a huge concern, even for those with 100’s of millions.

Think of what a group of 20 people would look like if standing in a room…(20)..that is probably the number of people who you would see at any given time in a Taco Bell…including the drive thru line… that is the number of people in this country who have as much wealth----as the poorest 50% of Americans…that is 165 million people…..think about that….

That is breathtaking!!! It makes me drop down on one knee.…and a sure sign that something is very, very wrong. It has been reported that the top .1% of Americans (that is 1/100th of a percent) have as much (candy) as the bottom 90%. How come every American doesn’t have that statistic memorized…and, it is only going to get worse, much worse…as automation and technology render more of the labor force obsolete and allow the big corporations to lay off more workers….pretty soon…there will only be a few people anywhere near that giant piñata when it bursts….

Sorry buddy…you just weren’t standing close enough to the piñata when it burst….tough luck…

And then..as if things aren’t bad enough…in this country we allow people to spend as much money as they want in an attempt to buy an outcome in an election. The Koch brothers have publicly said (it can only be called bragging) that they will spend 900 million dollars on the candidates they feel will serve (their) interests…Do you think they will spend money trying to get people elected who want to give some of their candy away, to help those who can’t even feed their families? Do you think they will try to get elected anyone who even cares about those who are standing miles away from the Red, White and Blue piñata? The Supreme Court recently ruled that individuals could spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections…so, where does the average citizen stand in that scenario? How do they ever catch their breath? How does their vote even count? When 20 people could easily slant the election process..then who could fault those who feel their vote doesn’t count? Many won’t even bother to vote…and, of course, like every other physical law that favors the wealthy, that will push things even more towards the outcomes that are wanted by those who have the power; the more the slot machine will come up cherry, cherry, cherry…for the powerful and the privileged…

Please tell me how that is Democracy?…..What will we say about “Free Enterprise” then?….what will we say about Capitalism?, how high will the American flag wave then?…..it was never great for the poor and underprivileged …but the dealers in the casino are playing with a rigged deck…and this election and the ascendance of Trump and Sanders have demonstrated that there are a lot of people who are willing to carry torches….they are so fed up they can’t even see straight.

We actually look at those who are left without any candy and we wonder “what the heck is wrong with those people? Why couldn’t they get any candy?” Maybe they just don’t have the American spirit...the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality.

I was born pretty darn close to that piñata when it spilled…and if you are reading this blog there is a good chance that you were born close to that piñata too…..

How much worse does it have to get before those left holding the sand start reading about the French Revolution…the French Aristocracy didn’t see it coming, either…they weren’t paying attention…after all….they had all the (candy) and no one was getting any of theirs…

We may be Americans….I certainly am proud to be one…I love the U. S. of A…..but first we have to be human beings….people who live in connection with other people…..people who think that their own happiness and success is closely tied to the happiness and success of others….those people who may live across the railroad tracks..people they don’t even know…

The Amish got the part about “community” right…they may not get a whole lot right but they got that right….

And don’t get me wrong…I am not against free enterprise, not against Capitalism…not by a long shot…I am for school vouchers in order to allow the private sector to access children who are not being served by the broken public school system… ….to allow not just the wealthy to attend private school. I am for privatization of Social Security. I would privatize the DMV and many other public agencies because the government is terrible at running these things. I believe that people should be incentivized to be entrepreneurial or inventive, etc…I am not talking about the Gulag here….not even close….but do people really have to have hundreds of millions of dollars …while others who are doing their best have to raise their children with nothing…and with no prospects?

“the rich get richer and the poor…get children” – F. Scott Fitzgerald from “The Great Gatsby”

But, if you want more people to have a chance at getting near the pinata you must give them access to a quality, (and safe) education..not just through high school..but through college…virtually all the other democratic nations in this country promise (and deliver) much more to their citizens….but we have been brought up to think that everyone can be like Daniel Boone…and if we can’t, well, then ….better luck next time. It’s quite possible that most people are doing the very best they can.

No other developed democratic country creates an environment where so many people have to stand so far away from the piñata…..with almost no chance at getting any closer.

I think we should change the name of America to GREED. I think hording insane amounts of money is a form of mental illness….it’s like being an alcoholic or a porn addict. It’s a sickness…(in my opinion)…a form of sociopathy….and our society passes no judgment on it…you can completely care less about anyone but yourself…and society doesn’t hold you close to the fire….not even close.

Food for Thought....