Goodbye, Horatio Alger »

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  Spadecaller

  Jan. 23, 2007, 6:16 a.m.

  The days when the mailroom clerk could work him/herself up to the president of the company are gone.

  Education for the poor compared to the education of the rich provide vastly different opportunities.

  Public school counselors commonly advise students in high school that they should not expect lucrative career opportunities in various industries since the advent of globalization.

  The prospects for the next generation are looking bleak as they inherit the indulgences of a corporate-run government that continues its policies of transfering its debts on the shoulders of their grandchildren.

  I am not recommending that people throw up their hands in defeat; to the contrary, this is the time to fight back and to restore the dream that we want to leave our children, this is the time to address these barriers to individual fulfillment, and to make the dream once again possible for all Americans in their struggle for life, liberty, and theri pursuit of happiness.
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  ind06

  Jan. 23, 2007, 6:17 a.m.

  Allow me to quote Thomas Jefferson in a letter he wrote to James Madison, December 20, 1787.

  "I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural, and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt, as in Europe. Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced on their good sense we may rely with the utmost security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty."

  Jefferson could never have imagined the speed with which America would expand across the continent. Nor did he envision the rapacity of business interests gobbling up the land near the railways; later in swallowing what he regarded as the backbone of liberty, the family farm.

  120 years later we dwell in Jefferson's nightmare.
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  Amazing1

  Jan. 23, 2007, 9:25 a.m.

  The farmer is no longer counted as a part of the census. And the farmer brings so much to the societal table. Those who live on the land accept the viccisitudes of life. If it rains too much, doesn't rain or rains at the wrong time, the farmer does not look for someone to sue. The farmer knows that putting something by for the future is necessity. The canning, pickling, curing and salting are means by which the farmer assures that his/her family will eat in the months to come. In rural areas dependent on farming there is less juvenile delinquency. Children have chores to do and thus learn the value of integrity and hard work. Jefferson saw the virtue of an agricultural society.

  Technology and corporate farming has robbed our society of the values of the farmer. Our measure of success is the amount of money we have, the kinds of toys we can afford. We need now, more than ever, to shift the focus to less tangible assests. Things like integrity, reliability, and honesty.
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  Spadecaller

  Jan. 23, 2007, 10:49 a.m.

  I appreciate your comments Amazing1. They are not just observations; they are based on living proof. Thanks.
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  endtyranny

  Jan. 23, 2007, 12:07 p.m.

  This is precisely the reason our government needs to start allocating funds to more social programs that can raise the quality of life around the country.
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  jumpmaster

  Jan. 23, 2007, 4:30 p.m.

  I meet people everday who:

  1. Believe that they cannot get ahead because they weren't born into privelage and they fulfill that belief.

  2. Believe that they can get ahead despite the fact that they were not born into privelage and they fulfill that belief.

  Choose wisely.
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  newsquew

  Jan. 23, 2007, 8:05 p.m.

  The HUGE majority of the wealthy are self made.

  The "wealthy" by inheritance are a minuscule %.

  Read: "The Millionaire Next Door." That's how it's done, if one is so inclined.

  Govt is not the answer as the article exhibits against its own premise.

  Influence from values is far greater than, yet again, another hope relying on more Govt intervention. Case in point: private charter schools in Harlem, run by a returning Harlem resident, that sees 80-90% of their students to colleges for 1/3 the cost of public school students fairing far worse in results.

  Amazing #'s of legal immigrants to the U.S. succeeding where so many U.S. citizens don't. That's because they don't see & seek opportunity; not wallowing in real or perceived problems.

  Look for at least (1) one way to make it happen instead of a bushel basket full of excuses for failure in not achieving what you want to.

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