Robbing People of the Ability to See Enormous Opportunities - Essay Example

Essay #2 Potential and opportunity are two words that are inexorably linked. Potential, when referencing the abilities of a particular individual with regards to a specific course of action, necessarily refers to the innate/internal mechanisms by which the individual can effects their own will upon the environment. By much the same token, opportunity represents the means by which this individual will have a reality of being affected due to the environmental constraints and determinants of the given system. The term “the American dream” has been thrown around for the better part of 80 years. Much as with many nebulous and difficult to define terms, this American dream means something different for almost each and every individual that seeks to integrate with it. Rather than arguing whether or not the American dream is ultimately a life were dead, this brief analysis will seek to analyze whether or not present America is something of a “stacked deck” and whether or not the current system is robbing people of their ability to see enormous opportunities directly in front of them. As a function of such an analysis, three of the readings which have been engaged during the course of the semester will be utilized to prove that the current system of opportunity and potential that exists for the individual within the United States is ultimately constrained and unreflective of the faults height and bravado that is so oftentimes associated with such terms as the American dream. In such a manner, it will be the goal of this author to prove to the reader why the United States, in its present form, promise and hopeless situation for many participants within its society. Although it is not hard to disagree with such political buffoons as Rush Limbaugh, the point that he made with regards to disagreeing with the overall level of potential and opportunity that exists within the United States was less outlandish been many of his other statements. Ultimately, what them off claimed was the following “such an understanding robs people of the ability to see the enormous opportunities directly in front of them”. Such a statement assumes that these semi-nebulous “opportunities” exist for each and every member of the society; a fact that has been fundamentally disproven with regards to the literature which will be discussed and with regards to existing literature outside this given subject matter. In such a way, the reader can definitively understand that the opportunities and potential that someone such as Rush Limbaugh, a multimillionaire conservative talk show host and political pundit, may engage with our necessarily far different than those levels of potential and opportunity that a lower class desperately poor individual would have to leverage/draw upon. Taking the case of “The Lesson”, the reader can instantly note that the narrator of the piece effectively differentiates society in two distinct groups; those that it escape the confines of desperate poverty and existed as in another plane or die mentioned, and those that continue to struggle with the painful realities of life defined by want and hardship. Such a differential is expertly portrayed with regards to some of the conversations that take place near the shop windows that contain goods that the girls have never seen before nor have any idea how they should be utilized. Says Junebug in her conversation with Big Butt and Miss Moore, “’What’s a paperweight?’…’To weight paper with dumbbell’…’Not exactly, it is used to weigh paper down so it won’t scatter and make your desk untidy’…’I don’t even have a desk’” (Bambara 267). This fundamental breakdown with regards to the way in which different cultures exists upon different dimensions helps to underscore the fact that the opportunity that exists for one given socioeconomic class and the opportunity and reality that exists for another is quite different entirely. As a means of further compounding such a truth, Barbara Ehrenreich’s piece, entitled “Serving in Florida”, underscores the economic realities that exist for those individuals that have not had the fortune of receiving a college degree or differentiating their career in any other way. Seeking to perform a level of research with regards to how individuals at the very bottom layers of the socioeconomic chain seek to make a way for themselves, Ehrenreich sets out to engage in two minimum wage jobs at 60 + hours a week just as a means of making ends meet. The following excerpt reveals the true gravity of the situation in which you find yourself: “I start out with a beautiful heroic idea of handling the two jobs at once, and for two days I almost do it: working the breakfast/lunch shift at Jerry’s from 8 AM till 2 PM, arriving at the Hearthside a few minutes late, at 2:10 PM, and attempting to hold out until 10 PM. In a few minutes I have between jobs, I pickup a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy’s drive-through window, goblet down in the car, and change for khaki slacks to black, from Hawaii and to rust colored polo. There is a problem, though. When, during the 3 PM to 4 PM dead time, I finally sat down to wrap silver, my flesh seems to bond to the seat. I try to refuel with a purloined cop of clam chowder, as I’ve seen Gail and Joan do dozens of times but the manager screams ‘No EATING!’” (Ehrenreich 292-293). The reality of the situation that is described and defined by Ehrenreich is one in which the individual stock in such a reality fines few if any means of escape; regardless of how hard they might pour themselves into whatever tasks and/work jobs that exist. Finally, as a means of understanding the opportunities, realities, and constraints that defined the lives of those who live in the very poorest recesses of the socioeconomic strata, the final piece which will be discussed, Kathleen Arnold’s “America’s New Working Class”, paints a less personal and far more systemic view of why the current situation exists and is manifested in the way that it is. According to Arnold’s understanding, the welfare and food stamp program, although cleverly disguised as a means of providing sustenance and goodwill towards those least fortunate within the society, has ultimately worked to create a situation by which the United States is guaranteed a highly populous socioeconomic segment that is ultimately desperate for low-paying jobs of any and all varieties. Kathleen Arnold’s position with regards to this particular reality is unique due to the fact that the other authors which have previously been integrated within this brief research have not pointed to any broad or overarching/systemic planning with regards to the environmental constraints and realities that present themselves to the poorest within the United States. The personal experience of Ehrenreich and Bambara, although useful, did not help to explain nor define the level and extent to which current environmental/governmental constraints affected the furtherance of the systems within which they both were forced to integrate. Says Arnold of the realities of these programs, “The history of welfare for poor relief in the United States has a number of undemocratic characteristics” (Arnold 362). However, as a function of Kathleen Arnold’s “undemocratic” interpretation, it is clear to the reader that elements within business, and the government, actively seek to create a situation in which cheap labor is virtually guaranteed in perpetuity as a result of these programs. This is both insidious and pernicious due to the fact that although they are deemed by many members of conservative/Republican society to be useless safety nets that’s are ultimately a drain upon taxpayer funding, they are in fact cleverly and cruelly implemented as a means of assuring the further productivity, profitability, and competitive nature of American business and industry. Although it is the belief of this author that pundits and commentators such as Rush Limbaugh has fundamentally misinterpreted the realities of the American dream and the system by which so many struggle within the United States, it should not be understood that it is the view of this author that the American dream and/or opportunity and possibility is absent from the American system. Rather, it is the belief of this author that although a great level of societal constraints and governmental structures exist which prevent individuals from achieving their full potential, the United States continues to offer a degree of success and opportunity that few other systems around the world hope to offer. This is not said out of a worked interpretation of patriotism or a belief that the United States is superior in any way shape or form to other nation; rather, it is said out of a belief that there are few systems of economics or governance in which an individual for a relatively poor background could hope to be ultimately successful merely by hard work and dedication. However, this somewhat optimistic interpretation to a topic which has been mostly negative must be understood to mean that although key drawbacks and fundamental problems exist at the very core of American socioeconomic life, key opportunities to improve these drawbacks continue to remain and provide at least some level of hope for stakeholders within the electorate. Works Cited Arnold, Kathleen. “From America’s New Working Class”. Bambara, Toni. “The Lesson”. Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Serving in Florida”. Read More