This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The American Dream is the indomitable will to earn a maximum of money and pay a minimum of taxes. Since Ronald Reagan, it has been a reality for the rich and a nightmare for the middle class and the poor.
If politics, in general, should be the art of the possible, in the USA it is the art of ignoring the true meaning of the American Dream of opportunity for all.
Consider the following facts: 1. Health insurance is not universal. 2. Medical services (doctors, medicines, hospital care) are unaffordable. 3. Undocumented refugees are exploited as cheap labor, and the country refuses to put order in their chaotic social situation, defying common sense and basic principles of legality. 4. The USA has a disastrous foreign policy due to a total misunderstanding of the nature of Islam and the Arab world. 5. Restaurant customers are expected to pay for most of the wages of servers. 6. The national debt continues to increase as the country pays for unjustified special interests and foolish military interventions. 7. Worst of all, the Supreme Court has usurped the unconstitutional authority to decide what is constitutional and what is not, instead of acting, as was originally intended, as a court of last resort to establish basic principle of justice.
In spite of all this, the USA is a wonderful, great country, inhabited by the most generous and compassionate people on the face of the Earth. I hope that the next president will be aware of the facts of life and do something about correcting the injustices enumerated above.
Jose M. Oliveira
Salt Lake City