Thread: The American Dream hangs in the balance

The American Dream hangs in the balance



By JOE SCARBOROUGH | 8/9/11 4:35 AM EDT Updated: 8/9/11 4:57 AM EDT


My mom and dad were born in the middle of the Great Depression, came of age during World War II and graduated college when Eisenhower was president. American power was at its zenith, millions of troops were joining the work force, our old rivals’ factories lay in ruins and interstate highways were springing up across the USA.

America’s remarkable ascent in the middle of the 20th century framed my parents’ worldview while I was growing up in towns ranging from northwest Florida to upstate New York.

Regardless of my family’s financial challenges, my mother and father always believed that in America there were no such things as short cuts, hard work was always rewarded and the good guys always won in the end.

Dad was a true-blue member of what historian Garry Wills called John Wayne’s America. But unlike Wills, Dad saw no dark undertones in a country that had blessed him with a job, a home in the suburbs and a Buick in the driveway.

Even when Dad was unemployed for 18 months, his faith in America never wavered. He still believed that hard work and prayer could knock down any obstacle standing in his way.

I remember our Sunday mornings in Meridian, Miss., when Dad was searching for a good-paying job while Mom was trying to help pay the bills working as a music teacher and church organist. The route that took us from our neighborhood to First Baptist Church in Meridian took us down a long, winding street called Country Club Drive.

It was the kind of street you would see in most Southern towns in 1970, with beautiful homes framed by perfectly manicured lawns. The garages of those houses usually held more Cadillacs than Buicks, and the golf course that wrapped around that neighborhood was the type my brother and I were never allowed to play on because our family had no chance of becoming members.

Today, I still remember those Sunday morning trips to church — not because my parents were striking out at the inequities of a system that created such economic winners (them) and losers (us) — but because of what my mom would say as we drove past the glorious homes of doctors, bankers and lawyers.

“You see that house, Joey?â€

Originally Posted by working4change

The American Dream hangs in the balance
The route that took us from our neighborhood to First Baptist Church in Meridian took us down a long, winding street called Country Club Drive.

It was the kind of street you would see in most Southern towns in 1970, with beautiful homes framed by perfectly manicured lawns. The garages of those houses usually held more Cadillacs than Buicks, and the golf course that wrapped around that neighborhood was the type my brother and I were never allowed to play on because our family had no chance of becoming members.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60896.html

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That is the American Dream that has lured millions of illegal aliens here as well.

They wound up working at Tysons and Home Depot.