Manifest Failure
Breadcrumbs - Episode 41: America - Was it All Just a Dream?
Welcome to Episode 41 where in the spirit of America’s 250th birthday, I focus our conversation on the American Experiment: Aspirations versus Reality.
America began as a declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men were created equal.”
The founding American aspiration had not been recognized by any other country when it was originally declared. Equality was a hope that declared to the world the dawning of a new national organizing principle.
What went wrong?
A careful examination shows our American history is rife with critical inflections points that led us to the crossroads we face today. The one consistent unifying factor to each of these events is given the choice between equality and inequality, extreme wealth chose inequality. Is it any wonder after 250 years, the top 1% of American household earners own 31% of American wealth and the bottom 50% of American household earners own 2.5%?
Enjoy this YouTube Cut of this very important conversation where I review the historical choices that lead to a nation where 69% of Americans no longer believe the American dream is attainable.
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Additional Resources for this Episode -
Peak Economic Equality in America
Powell Memo - Attack on the Free Enterprise System
Purchase Links for Onward, At Last - 2024 Presidential Election Edition -
Audiobook Narrated by Carolyn Jania
Book Club Condensed version:
It was a dream, a good dream. It’s not over, we will work for it. The ideals in the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution are good ones. Humans often fall short unfortunately.