Words: 1588
Reading Time: 6-8 Minutes
The Lost Dream
Since I was young, I have been unusually tuned into politics. Before Obama got elected, I can remember debating with my sixth-grade homeroom teacher about who should become the next president. My teacher argued in favor of Obama. I argued in favor of McCain. We had it out in front of the entire class. I can distinctly recall the look on her face as we jousted back and forth. The look said, “Am I really arguing with a 12-year-old about this?”
I knew that I cared more than my classmates about America. While most kids at twelve were watching cartoons and Nickelodeon, I would stay up late watching Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart. Upon reflection, it wasn’t the best political education — but they were hilarious. And I think Colbert’s old parody of a Republican talking head shaped my political viewpoints today.
Through their crass jokes about American political infotainment, I developed a sense that America was not doing okay. It was not the beacon of exceptionalism that my teachers in history classes taught me to imagine us as. The post-World War II United States that I learned about in textbooks and History Channel documentaries did not appear like the America of today.
The America of old seemed more coherent and together. The men and women of the 40s, 50s, and 60s seemed like they were working towards a common goal. We fought against true evil in alongside our European allies to topple Germany, Japan, and a fascist Italy. These were three nations that seemed deeply immoral but also powerful. Then, after the War, we became a manufacturing giant. We built incredible cars, appliances, and goods that were built to last. Made in America was a default, not a rarity.
However, as a young boy, I knew America was not as it was when my grandparents were young. As the Republican talking heads cheered on Bush’s war against terrorism in the Middle East, I watched Steven Colbert make a mockery out of their certainty that we were doing the right thing. But, to me, those war efforts clearly felt different. At the time, I played a lot of the video game series Call of Duty. And the fourth installment, Modern Warfare, had far less appeal to me than World at War. America was not fighting great powers, as we did in World War II. We were bombing desert people who lived in mud huts that were in countries that I couldn’t point to on a map.
Meanwhile, all the clothes I wore were no longer Made in America. They were made in Taiwan. And my toys were no longer made from metal. They were made from plastic and they came from China.
I knew things were not going in the right direction for the country I was born in and loved. When I was fourteen years old, I had a deep fear about US National debt. The year was 2011, and I was in eighth grade. At the time, total US national debt was $14.79 trillion. A number so big it didn’t make sense to me at the time (and it still doesn’t). There was all this talk about China. China was becoming a world power. We had given them the keys to our manufacturing castle. And they owned almost ten percent of our debt. At fourteen, being easily compelled by violent war video games, I figured soon enough China would invade us.
That didn’t happen, obviously. But at twenty-three, my fears for the fall of America came sharply back. I watched the movie The Big Short alone in my bedroom. COVID was still consuming the airtime of most news stations. At the end of the movie, when Steve Carrell’s character, Mark Baum, and his team are discussing the bank bailouts, they explained that the banks, government, and rating agencies all knew of the systemic problem they were creating. And the executives at the top were not going to have to face the consequences for their actions.
I cried at the end of that movie, one which I had seen before, upon the realization that this is the America I live in. One where the government, overstepping its powers by great lengths beyond the ideal limitations of the Constitution, protects the rich and powerful at the expense of those they profited from for years. In this moment, the structural decay of America seemed greater than what we can handle. And I feared that the country I love might not be long for this world.
And six years later, I still do.
The Decline
Our Founding Fathers had a vision for America. One with free markets, free people, and minimal government intervention. It’s a grand vision. And it’s one I think America today is failing to strive for.
I’m a capitalist. I think capitalism is the best economic system that man has enacted. I cheered while reading Atlas Shrugged. And I know that the America we live in today does not have a capitalist system. Far from it.
Free Market Capitalism is supposed to exist as its name suggests, a system in which individuals may freely pursue their own economic interests, unimpeded by others, and engage in voluntary exchange. But regulatory capture and government collusion have destroyed capitalism in America, and it’s hard not to see the consequences.
Go to any American city. More of the restaurants and shops than ever are no longer owned by those who work inside their walls. Many of the restaurants that we visit as Americans are franchises, because mom and pop restaurants can no longer afford the rents. The plazas that these restaurants occupy are owned by national development companies like Benderson, who hardly see their tenants as real people. Apartments are not owned by anyone who lives in that town. They are owned by massive companies like Greystar, who engage in predatory rent practices to raise rents beyond what the average American can afford.
Why are we even talking about rent, anyway? So much of the American Dream that I was sold on as a younger person was to own a home and fill it with a family. But now it feels like people under thirty-five aren’t buying homes anymore. And with the homeownership rate for people under thirty-five at 36.3%, that feeling holds true.
While people under thirty-five can’t buy homes, their parents and the generation above them are living like kings. Boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — hold 52-55% of all US household wealth. Many are happily retired. They play pickleball and go on European vacations. They experienced the American dream.
However, the younger generations are feeling the American Dream they were sold on slip through their grasp. So much so that the young people of New York City, saddled with debt and overcome with rent payments, are poised to elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, as mayor.
Socialism is anti-American. And socialist or socialist-adjacent politicians are gaining more traction than ever. This trend tells us that American people are giving up on the capitalist system that made this country exceptional.
The American Dream all began to fall apart in the 1970s. As inflation began steadily creeping up, partly due to spending too much on losing battles in the Korean and Vietnam wars, Nixon suspended the US dollar’s convertibility into gold in 1971 (state.gov). The American dollar began to fall in value faster than ever before. The prices of groceries crept up. The prices of cars slowly increased. The price of appliances rose ever so slightly.
After some rough economic times in the 1980s, America doubled down on its economic losses. In 1994, after the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, much of American automobile manufacturing moved away from Detroit and down to Mexico. And then in 2001, China was added to the World Trade Organization. As a result, America handed over a large share of its electronic and consumer goods manufacturing workload.
Not only did we throw away a lot of our manufacturing might, but we also stopped focusing on American priorities. On September 11, 2001, two planes struck the Twin Towers, and gave American war hawks a greenlight to begin wars across an ocean against people who live in the desert with a culture we simply don’t understand.
Our increasingly globalist agenda doesn’t stop with our politicians, either. Instead of focusing on problems in America, our news stations spend most of their airtime discussing foreign affairs. And the American people seem so focused on their division about what to do about Ukraine or Palestine, that few really worry about the problems in their own backyard.
After all this decline, both in American capability and American nationalism, we are now a country with $37.7 trillion in debt, a fertility rate of 1.6, and the once-vibrant New York City on the cusp of electing a socialist as mayor.
Back in the 60s, there was this show called The Jetsons. It envisioned a life in the mid-twenty-first century that had flying cars, homes in the sky, and robot maids. This show was a testament to the optimism of Americans at the time. The future seemed so bright for them.
But now, when people speak of flying cars, robot maids, and automation, a sense of fear grows in their eyes. This fear is mixed with a slight flicker of anger, directed at the nameless and faceless oligarchs who are building the future that they believe is not for them.
America is dying. And it needs to be revived.
Read Next: Part 2 (Coming Soon)
Hiya Buddy,
Thanks for reading this. I hope you’re as American as I am and don’t want to see the death of this great country.
Stay tuned, because the next piece I write is going to be about how we fix America before we lose it. And I think my plan is pretty good!
Stay Tuned,
- John