Is America Going Down the Drain?

Society has been built so that only the rich can be wealthy and it is almost beyond possible to be poor and become rich. Throughout the reading Chomsky talks about the 10 principles of concentration of wealth and power. The super wealthy only contains about 1% of our population or less, but this 1% still controls the structuring of society according to Chomsky. I 110% agree with Chomsky on the fact the wage gap is ridiculous and without it, more people would be able to have better opportunities. I think the quote, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," is very prevalent in this situation. Many people who are born in low class or lower middle class don't have the opportunity to become wealthy or land a great job that makes you able to climb in the class levels not because they're not educated but because they don't have connections within big business or corporations. Chomsky talks about how in America it used to be a lot easier to climb the class levels, but now with so many jobs being taken to places overseas where it's cheaper and more efficient it's a lot more difficult to climb class levels. 

Chomsky doesn't think that the United States has changed for the better over the years, he thinks it has changed for the worse. He also adds in the idea that the American Dream is gone. "Today, there's a general feeling that nothing's coming back - it's over. The American Dream, like most dreams, has large elements of myth to it" (pg. ix-x) I think that America has changed over the centuries/decades but not everything changed for worse, yes some things did, but not everything. For example, about a century ago, slavery had just been abolished and although African Americans were now considered their own person they still didn't have equal rights. Equality has come a huge way over time and it's still not perfect, but it is a lot better then it was 30 years ago. So in some ways I do agree with Chomsky that the United States has gotten worse over the years but I also think that, that isn't true with everything. 

On the note of Chomsky thinking the American Dream is a "myth" and it's gone, I don't agree. I stated this in my earlier blogs but the American Dream differs from person to person so they American Dream can't just be "gone." Maybe the idea of the main American Dream where people go to American to find happiness, wealth and love is gone but that doesn't mean that individual American Dreams are gone. 

I think that America is not as bad as Chomsky makes it out to be, there are issues don't get me wrong, but Chomsky really isn't a fan of America. Chomsky claims that Democracy in the U.S. isn't running like it was set up to be run. He claims that they way to fix this is reducing inequality and having democracy in moderation. Both of these could be fixes for our system of government that is controlling right now. I think that inequality would be a huge step towards a better government, but in order for that to happen everyone has to be on board with it. If not everyone's on board with it then some people are going to have biased opinions towards certain problems. 

Chomsky makes a strong point on some subjects but on others I feel he was wrong and America has/can become better if we work towards a better, united country.