Over its now 232 year lifetime, the United States has made grievous errors. Social equality has been a longtime coming for ethnic minorities, women, and children. We have failed millions of Americans and non-Americans. Yet, we have made it through. Somehow, someway, we still stand as one of the paragons of social welfare and societal improvement. Our economy remains the largest the world, twice the size of our nearest competitor. Despite our foreign policy blunders and the rise of anti-Americanism, we still have more influence than any other country on the planet.

Millions of people have risked life and limb to illegally sneak into this country. Millions more throughout history have gone through the tedious process of legal entry. All of us have wanted our part of the American Dream. No matter how mythical or idealistic, there remains a genuine belief that hard work will be rewarded. With greater social mobility than in most industrialized states, college dropouts and those from humble backgrounds have risen to the top of the food chain. Anyone with big dreams can be the next great American story.

With all of this optimism and hope, why is it that 41% believe that America is not a place with liberty and justice for all? Does anyone who talks their way out of a traffic ticket contribute to the degradation of the rule of law? Is every crime that goes unsolved proof-positive that we lack basic American characteristics? I’d like to think otherwise.

OJ Simpson

Don’t hate on OJ. He’s just living the American Dream!

I fear that we have reached a point in our society that the patriotic thing to do is to criticize the government. While I am all about healthy skepticism (and putting OJ behind bars), we may have gone over the edge. Frivolous lawsuits and demands for special treatment do not represent the American way.

I’m sorry if the incapable are incapable and if the unqualified are unqualified, but I don’t remember liberty and justice mandating forced equality. I agree that any obstacles to freedom of opportunity must be removed. All we can, and should, do in this society is give everyone an equal chance. Those who waste their chance do not deserve more opportunities and preferential treatment. Income distribution is not unnatural. Stratification is, to a certain extent, inevitable.

The quixotic quest for some sort of utopia where everyone has a job and has equal salary isn’t going anywhere. “Great” societies like Maoist China and Stalinist USSR have “tried” and failed. The great myth of the political left is a perversion of the Founding Fathers’ dreams and goals. The left offers a view that the framers did not support social mobility.

When polled, 10% of Americans would rather live somewhere else. To the estimated 30 million of us who do not want to be part of the American Dream, I respectfully ask that you leave. There are millions more who would love to take your place.