Check out this segment of “New Rules” in Bill Maher’s “Real Time”. The first part of the clip is fairly typical Maher. He makes fun of Anna Nicole Smith, mocks “metro-sexuals”, makes a joke about the recent immigration protests and finally mocks religion.
But after all that, Maher focuses on the Americans and the “American Dream”. Maher cites a study on the difficulty of climbing the economic “ladder” in the United States. Apparently it is easier to work your way out of poverty in Europe (I’ve not found the exact study he cites, but this article seems to cover the idea: American ladder is tough to climb) than in the United States.
But the most interesting part of his rant comes when analyzes American reasoning. See, the American dream depends on a certain social economic structure put in place by government, and its citizens can climb up the structure with hard work. But now people have become so individualistic that they do recognize the structure put in place for them by government, and now look to dismantle it. For example, Republicans have been trying to eliminate the “estate tax” for years now, a tax that for the most part effects wealthy. But for some reason gets support from more than the few who will actually benefit from it.
Taxes are one of these things that people rarely seem to understand, even by those who depend most on the benefits brought in by taxes. It’s amazing because those who receive most of the benefits from high taxes, are those who vote against it. I recommend reading “What the matter to Kansas” by Thomas Frank. Frank goes into great detail and explains the situation in the “heartland” of America, where many people proudly (and ironically) proclaim that they do not require government handouts, but at the same time, apparently unaware, are vote away their livelihoods. So much for not needing government.
There must be a reason for this. The people must either extremely idealistic and vote against their own interest on a matter of principle, or they might just not be educated as to what they are really voting for. I suspect it’s the latter, especially when being mislead by it’s representatives. Taxes have become synonymous with un-American, sadly misunderstanding what the benefits of America.
Maher then made another good point about the American dream has come to mean. The American dream, today, has been mutilated beyond recognition. When my parents migrated to the United States, my siblings and I saw the hard and laborious work required to survive. Even with a college education, both my parents initially had traditional immigrant jobs, like a cab driver and factory worker. To this day I do not comprehend the math my parents pulled off to support 4 children on their income. But they drilled in all of their children the importance of education and hard work, and because of this I am still a believer in the American dream (to a certain level).
I have typical views on hard work because of my experience growing up poor, and because of my experience, I am often disturbed by most ideas of entitlement. A small glimpse into main stream culture, through the lens of reality television (although not exactly “reality”, it does give a glimpse the audience’s mindset), you’ll see “My Sweet 16″, where 16 year old girls throw temper tantrums at their fathers for not buying them expensive cars for their birthdays. Or “Cribs”, where “stars” show off their mansions, cars, and big screen televisions. What you see is a glamorization of gluttony (a deadly sin, may I remind you). We see ego often confused for drive, excess considered cool, education considered purgatory until you win the lotto, and hard work means wishing really bad that you become a Hollywood Star.
It’s no wonder by people vote for hearts and dreams, instead of their own self-interest. There is a disconnect on what is considered successful and what is considered hard work. Maybe this is reason to allow the illegal immigrants into the country: to remind Americans of what hard work really means.