What We Need! - It's Time for the Democrats to Hear What the Voters Have to Say!

Chapter 1

America: Where Dreams Come True, but NOT for Everyone

The American Dream is an ideology in the United States in which freedom includes the possibility of prosperity and success to all, regardless of social class or race (Leahasilver, “Social Class in America,” WordPress, 21 July 2011, https://leahasilver.wordpress.com). For these reasons, some people have risen to the heights of physicians, entrepreneurs, lawyers, healthcare professions, professional athletes, musicians, software creators, fashion designers, writers, and any other business they desire. That is the American Dream, and it works for some.

What about those who spend their entire life chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Why didn’t it work for them? How many are still living in the shadows of the middle, upper class, and elite? Try 38.1 million people living in poverty. The question is, how can that be possible in America? Before I tell you how this came to be, I want you to know that some will not accept the truth because it will distort the idea of how they arrived at their level of success.

It’s so easy for people who are not in your shoes to make comments such as “They didn’t have what it took to succeed, or it’s not my fault they were born poor.” I have heard comments like “They’re lazy, or they are always looking for a handout instead of doing what I did.” But the worst of the comments will always be “They must like living off government assistance; otherwise, they would’ve done something to change their life.” The successful make themselves feel better by ignoring the real issues such as, why the door open wide for some, but not all people living in poverty?

Changing the name of the word of a detestable act, allows us to tolerate the very act that causes harm to someone or something.

Throughout this book, you will notice I have used the word “impoverished” when referring to those who are poor. Our society prefers to use words that actually “tone down” the name of the act committed. Might as well add “impoverished” to the list. Here are a few examples:

• We stopped using the phrase “dividing people by race” and replaced it with “gentrification.”
• We stopped using the word “rape” and replaced it with “sexual assault.”
• We stopped saying “adultery” and replaced it with “having an affair.”
• We replaced “racism” with the words “hate crime.”
• We replaced the words “hung to death” with “died of asphyxiation.”
• We replaced the word “stealing” with “embezzlement.”
• We replaced the words “sexual child abuse” with “gratification of lust.” How cute!
• Finally, the word for the day is “impoverished,” which replaces the word “poor.”
• We prefer to say “poor” instead of “lower -class” because the latter is detestable.
• Why do we do this? So, we can live with our behavior when we should be ashamed and made to feel guilty.

Who is responsible for the state of impoverishment in America?

There is no country we can blame for our impoverished predicament other than our own. Who in America has the power to create a system that maintains a steady supply of poor people in a geographical location? The United States Government. The real question is, why?

America loves to categorize everything. If you go to the grocery store, you will find everything sorted by items. The same holds true for department stores: from clothes to electronics, everything is categorized. Movies are grouped by ratings, from G to PG to PG-13, all the way to XXX. So, it’s not an uncommon thought to categorize ourselves. We are grouped into social class systems, the grouping of people based on economics, your monthly or annual earnings.

Social Class System Defined

There are a lot of definitions regarding the usage of social class in the United States, the grouping of Americans by two elements: income and location. Before understanding the poverty level, you must comprehend all three levels of the social-economic class system and how we still have 38.1 million living in the lower-class social order.

The only way the lower-class social order will change for the better is the opening of the doors that prevent them from climbing the ladder of success. There are five social class orders. The last two are working class and underclass, but they fall under the lower-class social order. The best definition of social classification is mentioned (8.3 Social Class in the United States”, Sociology, University of Minnesota, https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/8-3-social-class-in-the-united-states/).

The Upper Class

Depending on how it is defined, the upper class consists of about 4% of the U.S. population and includes households with annual incomes (2009 data) of more than $200,000 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2010). Some scholars would raise the ante further by limiting the upper class to households with incomes of at least $500,000 or so, which in turn reduces this class to about 1% of the population, with an average wealth (income, stocks and bonds, and real estate) of several million dollars. However, the upper class has much wealth, power, and influence (Kerbo, 2009).

Members of the upper-upper class have “old” money that has been in their families for generations; some boast of their ancestors coming over on the ship called the Mayflower. They belong to exclusive clubs and live in exclusive neighborhoods; have their names in the Social Register; send their children to expensive private schools; serve on the boards of museums, corporations, and major charities; and exert much influence on the political process and other areas of life from behind the scenes.

Members of the lower-upper class have “new” money acquired through hard work, lucky investments, and/or athletic prowess. In many ways their lives are similar to those of their old-money counterparts, but they do not enjoy the prestige that old money brings. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the richest person in the United States in 2009, would be considered a member of the lower-upper class because his money is too “new.” Because he does not have a long-standing pedigree, upper-upper class members might even be tempted to disparage his immense wealth, at least in private.

The Middle Class

Many of us like to think of ourselves in the middle class—many of us are. The middle class includes the 46% of all households whose annual incomes range from $50,000 to $199,999. As this overly broad range suggests, the middle class includes people with many different levels of education and income and many different types of jobs. It is thus helpful to distinguish the upper-middle class from the lower-middle class on the upper and lower ends of this income bracket, respectively.

The upper-middle class has household incomes from about $150,000 to $199,000, amounting to about 4.4% of all households. People in the upper-middle class typically have college and, very often, graduate or professional degrees; live in the suburbs or in fairly expensive urban areas; and are bankers, lawyers, engineers, corporate managers, and financial advisers, among other occupations.

The lower-middle class has household incomes from about $50,000 to $75,000-$150,000. amounting to about 18% of all families. People in this income bracket typically work in white-collar jobs as nurses, teachers, and the like. Many have college degrees, usually from the less prestigious colleges, but many also have two-year degrees or only a high school degree. They live somewhat comfortable lives but can hardly afford to go on expensive vacations or buy expensive cars and can send their children to expensive colleges only if they receive significant financial aid.

Lower-Class

Although “lower class” is a common term, many observers prefer a less negative-sounding term like “the poor,” which is the term used here. The poor have household incomes under $25,000 and constitute about 25% of all U.S. households. Many of the poor lack high school degrees, and many are unemployed or employed only part time in semiskilled or unskilled jobs.

When they do work, they work as janitors, house cleaners, migrant laborers, and shoe shiners. They tend to rent apartments rather than own homes, lack medical insurance, and have inadequate diets.

The U.S. Poverty Statistics Report in September 2019

The United States Census Bureau released its U.S. Poverty Statistics Report in September 2019. The report confirms Big Brother is entirely aware of your dire needs. The question of the decade is this: “What are you doing with this data?” (“U.S. Poverty Statistics,” Federal Safety Net, http://federalsafetynet.com/us-poverty-statistics.html)

Can we Finish the War on Poverty Started by a Democratic President?

It was President Lyndon B. Johnson who declared the war on poverty, during his State of the Union address on 8 January 1964....