Time for America to Become a Reality and No Longer a Dream

The date when America began is recorded as July 4, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This year’s anniversary will mark 246 years since the dreams of America’s founding fathers started to become a reality. After more than a quarter of a millennium, America is not close to achieving the ambitions of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Hamilton, Franklin, or the others who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Sadly, the guarantees and promises of the Constitution are under attack by members of America’s own government today. Racism has peaked with the rise of white supremacy during the Donald Trump years. Plutocrats in both Washington and the private sector continue to squash the dreams of the working class. America’s most important right, the right to vote is under attack in more than 40 states.

The pandemic revealed that most American workers are unhappy, overworked, and underpaid. A huge number of the nation’s greatest minds are wasted because they cannot afford higher education. In the richest nation in the world, thousands of citizens lose their lives every day because they cannot afford the best healthcare available. Half of the country’s people live in the low-income and impoverished levels of the economy. The American government is dysfunctional and the most corrupt in the free world.

Every one of these aforementioned facts are undeniable, but one party, in collusion with the mainstream media, remains in denial.

The United States continues to remain a Democratic Republic. Democracy in any form is difficult, especially in the most diverse nation in the world. Americans see the world from different perspectives.

This author was born in 1946, as a child of white privilege. Some of my most treasured friends were not as fortunate. Because their skin was dark and they came from a different culture, they were considered inferior to whites. Virtually nothing has changed today.

The wealthy and the powerful were offered positions of importance and superiority throughout the past 70 years, and continue to receive the same level of privilege in this nation’s hierarchy today.

Many were raised to respect everyone in authority, including teachers, law enforcement, and virtually anyone in a position of power. Little did people know that in other parts of Los Angeles Black children were taught, what can only be described as “survival techniques” when approached by men legally carrying guns, and possessing the authority to change their lives forever, or end them. At age 75 this author no longer has any respect for authority.

The Constitution guarantees every American the expectation to participate in the success of this nation. When big business succeeds, those who worked hard to achieve the goals and ambitions of management have a right to demand the ability to share in that success.

An Attempt at Diversity in America

It has been called “affirmative action.” Minorities have been shunned by whites for over 400 years. This author has been naïve, believing that the nation was changing. However, during the Trump years, this author opened his eyes and closed his heart. Reality slapped him in the face. It should not be a reality, but the truth is Americans of color have been discriminated against since the inception of this nation, and this continues today

Murder-by-cop of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor was not news but exposed a history of pervasive racism in law enforcement. Once again, nothing has changed. Prior to the invention of cellular phones with cameras, and the use of bodycams by law enforcement, citizens only had the word of the police to believe.

All of this leads to one thing: “If the Constitution remains the ‘Law of the Land,’ it must apply to every American, regardless of race, creed, or the color of their skin. This includes the poor, and the working class who struggle daily to maintain an acceptable lifestyle for their families.” No longer can the primary concern of the American government be wealthy and the powerful. This will require great change, and that is a challenge to anyone’s optimistic nature.

In America, money is equivalent to power. The United States has become a business and less of a country dedicated to freedom and human rights.

What happens in America will dictate what happens to the world over the next couple of decades. If the United States survives the fascist efforts of Trump and his Neo-Nazi friends, including the former Republican Party, it will be on a path to become the culmination of the dreams of the founding fathers. If not, it will succumb to the forces of fascism and the end of the American dream.

Today, the people of Ukraine are fighting for their rights and their belief in democracy. This author hopes the people of America will do the same as the challenge to this nation’s future becomes more aggressive from the right-wing extremists who seek domination over all of the nation’s people.

“The Truth Lives Here”

Op-ed by James Turnage
Edited by Jeanette Vietti

Sources:

Newsweek: It’s Time To Change the Way We Celebrate Black History Month | Opinion; by KEITH WYCHE
Daily Kos: Fully reckoning with the legacy of American slavery requires more than removing Confederate monument; Guest Writer for Prism

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Daniel Arrhakis’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image Courtesy of thierry ehrmann’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License