"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) who was born today, and is best remembered as the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.
Colorado Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien writes today in the Rocky Mountain News about the big jump in poverty here in Colorado.
This is the comment I just posted:
Yes, safety net measures are needed to help the wounded.
But the real question is: WHY ARE THEY INCREASINGLY NEEDED?
The Small Business Administration was formed in 1954 to “help” new businesses and small businesses. The SBA’s misguided thinking has permeated our schools and society. What's been the result?
We used to be a nation of shop keepers, but we've become a nation of clerks dependant on big corporations and institutions.
What is it that's been changed in our society that keeps so many today from achieving the True American Dream, “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement…Being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class. And that dream as been realized more fully in actual life here than anywhere else, though very imperfectly even among ourselves. It has been a great epic and a great dream. What, now, of the future?” (The Epic of America, James Thurslow Adams, 1932.)
Lt. Gov. O’Brien, how about using your Childrens Campaign experience to start a new Colorado Entrepreneurs Campaign, starting with a summit meeting to identify the real problems. What’s changed in the last 100 years? What has the SBA and the government done, what have schools, political parties, the media and other powerful forces done, that is creating this American Nightmare, a nation of low-paid clerks who can never get ahead working for the wealthy few? And more important, what can be done now to reopen real opportunity for the children of the poor?
What candidates for high office will make this part of their campaigns? They would get my vote, and I’ll bet a lot of others, too.
What author will research and write about how we can rekindle the True American Dream?
I’m going to suggest this as a topic at the Denver Socrates Café next Thursday. Will you join us? More information and optional RSVP at http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment or question here is very welcome! Or to keep it confidential email me at John@JohnWren.com After you post or send it is very helpful if you then call me at (303)861-1447 to make sure I take a look at your comment here or your email. Thanks!