The Death of the American Dream and a Look At the Newly Anointed New Nobility

Is the American Dream dead? It surely looks that way. But, if so, who killed it and why? I propose that the New Nobility did, the monied class, the one percent, those who hold most of America’s wealth in their hands and remain intent on expanding their stock portfolios even further. Because one billion dollars is not enough; two billion barely adequate; three billion and more deemed necessary and essential to keep score; ensure legacy seats in first-class universities for offspring; and answer the pressing question, who owns the biggest yacht this season?

There is little doubt, “the fix is in.” The poor in America now have a very limited window of opportunity to improve their economic circumstances. Given the Supreme Court decision to gut collegiate DEI programs, people of minority ethnicities will no longer be offered a helping hand. The other Supreme Court decision, “Citizens United,” ensures that those with money will continue to influence government in their favor via massive campaign contributions, otherwise known as legalized corruption. Sad. Maddening. Not what the Founders had in mind at all. Essentially, Elon Musk bought the White House for Donald Trump.

A wealthy friend told me last year that “it takes money to make money.” I believe it. Tragically, this fact condemns millions to poverty. If you are a Republican Party member, this is the way of things: it is rough-and-tumble out there; only the strong survive; and my longtime favorite, it is a dog-eat-dog world. What passes for Conservatism today, a pale shadow of its former self, accepts poverty while denying that discrimination, racism, and misogyny still exist. Multiple denials and wishful thinking will not make it so. If only it were true.

Government is supposed to help level the playing field, so that those who are disadvantaged at least have a fighting chance for something better. Again, the heavily right-leaning Supreme Court has decided that the “original meaning” of the Constitution must be understood literally, where “all men are created equal.” Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The facts of our birth are largely deterministic. Those born in poverty tend to remain in poverty. Those born with a metaphorical silver spoon in the mouth remain wealthy and often increase their riches via investment of cash they did not earn but inherited. We are not born equal! Clearly, the idea was aspirational — something to strive toward — and the Founders knew it.

Politics today offers false choices. It is no longer about the philosophies of the progressives or conservatives. Politics is now near-wholly about those who possess the country’s wealth, acting in their own self-interest. Therefore, and in fact, the system now works in reverse. The rich are growing richer, much as the Old Nobility did, and the poor are growing poorer. It is a fact. Nobody is denying it. The blame game, though, has gone off the rails. Blaming progressives for the actions of the wealthy is the biggest red herring of all time.

For example, hedge fund managers are buying up the land upon which trailer parks for manufactured homes are located. My long-deceased parents lived in one. They were poor. It was what they could afford. The disadvantaged living in these flimsy residences are having their rents raised by the hedge fund to make more money for those already ridiculously well off. Many of these individuals live off their Social Security checks and part-time employment. Many cannot afford health care. Many have no place else to go.

All this while Elon Musk has been fighting in court to secure a Tesla pay package once valued at roughly fifty-six billion dollars, a deal so large that a Delaware judge struck it down as improper. The scale of it borders on obscene.

The influence of those with riches continues to grow apace to the detriment of everyone else.

Why do we not hear more about such legal injustices? Because there is no-money-it. The Media in this country is owned by the wealthy. Better informing the public does not fatten wallets. No conspiracy theory is necessary in explanation. The future of America is not determined by fat cats smoking cigars in back rooms. Quite simply, everyone generally acts in favor of their pocketbooks. This includes the New Nobility. If a good idea in Congress fails to get traction, you need only ask yourself one question, is there money in it? If not, the likelihood of passage is poor.

Look around the DC Beltway, the huge signs on buildings are ubiquitous. Nearly every major corporation in America has significant representation in the nation’s capital. It wasn’t that way even a half-century ago. The business of lobbying elected officials has never been better, another form of legalized corruption. The American dream, if not dead, is certainly on life support. The only thing that can save it is an engaged populace that comes to practice what our Founders preached — the exercise of reason, compromise, fact-based decision making, a sharp division between church and state, civil discourse, and the rejection of cults of personality and authoritarianism. We either learn to work together to make life better for all our citizens or the Republic we once strived for will be no more, and the American Dream will die with it.