May 4, 2009
by Paul Kemp

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Americans in the past fifty years have come to believe in a "something for nothing" economy. As little children we were raised to the crooning of Jiminy Cricket singing, "When you wish upon a star your dreams come true." While it is true that America has been the land of great possibilities, there are limits that we have failed to acknowledge.

What sells in America? To capture the really big markets, you must sell a product that requires the suspension of belief in reality. That way, no one can question the science behind your product, because there is none. You simply "Gotta believe it!"

Many people got into trouble buying homes which common sense should have told them they could not afford, but salesmen, eager for big commissions on expensive homes, looked the other way. Mortgage brokers also averted their eyes. The hope was that the myth of the ever-increasing value of prime real estate would lift all boats and make all buyers qualified ... eventually.

It didn't work out so well, unfortunately. Otherwise-intelligent money managers entrusted billions of dollars to conman Bernie Madoff, blinded by the secretions of their greed glands. Even three visits by SEC regulators couldn't find any evidence of wrongdoing. Americans, present company excepted, will eagerly buy weightloss pills and thigh creams that are sold on the hope that those who buy them can continue to eat whatever they want and do no exercise, but will gain a fabulous figure for only $19.95 per month.

How to Make a Fortune Today in America

If you want to make the big, easy money, you need to concern yourself with quirky trivia. Sell the latest game or electronic gadget. Gossip Web sites draw big crowds discussing the constantly changing landscape of escapades and relationships and fashion trends of the stars. The winning strategy in the hard-fought 2008 presidential campaign was "Hope" and "Change."

Don't try to awaken the true believers by pointing out the nitty-gritty details of Change looking a lot like "More of the Same." You will be viciously and self-righteously attacked. Let them sleep. And dream. America has led the world into a dream of prosperity based on selling unnecessary goods and services to the world. We expect the world to buy into our dream economy and finance our deficits in return for our masterfull attempts to control the latest members of the "Axis of Evil" (currently Iran, Somalia, and North Korea).

Go to any site like Digg.com to get a sense of how averse most Americans are to confronting their economic and political plight. Any serious discussion of American foreign policy gets pathetically little interest compared to the latest comedy videos and tech discussions.

America in 2009 is Schizophrenic

Our peculiar version of Christianity has taken the gospel of the Prince of Peace and turned it into a justification for killing our Muslim enemies. Try to find a mainstream Christian preacher who doesn't support our wars! Try pointing out to your neighbors the futility of enlisting in a pointless war, based on lies, and see how far it gets you. Everything that doesn't accord with our official worldview is cause for declaring war: War on Radical Islam, War on Poverty, War on Drugs. And yet, mysteriously, everything we declare war on proliferates like crabgrass! WTF?

We choose to ignore the results of a former Prohibition when confronted with problems enforcing our current prohibition. Even when Al Capone reincarnates as Pablo Escobar, most of us don't get it. We Get No Help from the MSM We studiously learn nothing from history, especially our own. We continue to hope to win the hearts and minds of the residents of the countries we forcibly occupy: our soldiers kindly handing out candy to children, while whole families are killed by remote-controlled drones piloted by faceless men behind the curtain in Nevada.

The children are too wise to be fooled. They may play along with the Americans' fantasies of making the world safe for Coca-Cola and Chevron, but they don't believe it for a minute. Most Iraqis, for instance, want the occupiers to leave. Finally, we are led to believe that our current economic downturn is almost over and that it is once again time to buy shares of ownership in companies that manufacture things that nobody needs on credit so that we may win back what we have lost.

Friends, we won't be through with the Bubble Psychology that got us into this mess until we learn to stop believing in fairy tales -- of unearned wealth, of health without exertion, that occupation equals freedom, and that peace is achievable by killing enough of those who don't buy into our dream. Until we confront realities that we find depressing -- and come to terms with them -- we will find it impossible to go on enjoying the American Dream. It's time to grow up, America, and stop dreaming. Will it take a nightmare depression, followed by World War, to wake this country or can we awaken on our own?

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Paul Kemp awoke to the realities of American politics as a Conscientious Objector and war resister during the Vietnam era.  He is an entrepreneur and writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. He welcomes feedback through his website, http://defending-your-retirement.blogspot.com/. 

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