What is the “Great American Dream?”

When I was growing up, that meant that you could do whatever you wanted to with a large measure of freedom and a chance for great success.

For other Americans, that dream is for a large central government that provide, housing, clothing, food, jobs, health care, free cell phones and other perks.

This view is socialism, and in some cases, it is communism.

When I was growing up and when I was a young man, communism was a dirty word. Communists were quiet about their affiliations. Why was this a dirty word?

Mostly because of the former USSR, the Russian oligarchy that oppressed Eastern Europe for decades after World War II. The ruling class murdered their opponents. They suppressed capitalism. They persecuted Christians.

From an economic standpoint, the communists were an utter failure. Russians couldn’t afford to feed their families. They lusted after the goods  – like Levi jeans – that were common in the West.

Finally, the USSR collapsed under its own weight. They adopted – at least partially – the Biblical concept that if you don’t work, you don’t eat.

Under communism and socialism, the people that work don’t enjoy the full impact of their productivity. And lazy people are not penalized for not working or not working hard.

Some early European settlers in North America tried to hold all their goods in common but they almost starved to death. By switching to capitalism, those who worked hard prospered and in turn, the entire community prospered.

There is a place for welfare. Some people are sick and can’t work and they need help. Others are old and weak and unable to work. Children in poverty need help. In a perfect world, local churches would meet these legitimate needs. But our government has appropriated that responsibility from the Church and levied confiscatory taxes to prop up the poor.

In a culture where hard work doesn’t pay off and laziness is rewarded, pretty soon the producers realize they are stupid for working so hard. This is being played out in Venezuela, a communist country that is incredibly wealthy in natural resources (oil) but its people are leaving by the millions because the country can’t feed itself. Communist dictators, in league with hardened communists from Cuba, ruined the country’s energy industry and penalized the people in the process.

We see this in every communist and socialist nation. China is trying to marry its communism with some capitalism because otherwise their people would perish. Cuba is a human wasteland.

And this could happen here.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed socialist, wants a 70 percent income tax rate. She thinks it is immoral for any nation to have billionaires. She believes no one who makes over $10 million a year should keep much of whatever they make over that amount. She wants a guaranteed income for everyone, free medical care and free college tuition for everyone.

Does that sound familiar?

I won’t make $10 million this year or perhaps that much during my whole working career. I am the youngest son of a barber who lost his wife to cancer in 1959 and was left with five sons – ages 5 to 13 – to raise by himself. In the 1960s, he made about $100 a week cutting hair.

In almost every country in the world, his sons would grow up mired in property. But because of the Great American Dream, four of his sons got college degrees (three with advanced degrees). They became teachers, a research librarian and a newspaper editor/publisher.

The government didn’t create the success we enjoy. With the help of God, we did. I started working with I was 15 years old at a taco restaurant at 4th Place and Sheridan Road.

As a kid, I worked at restaurants, gas stations and department stores. I mowed lawns when I was too young to get a regular job and I walked around my neighborhood near McClure Park looking for empty pop bottles to turn in for extra change.

I worked my way through college, delivering furniture for Manhattan Furniture (I lost 35 pounds one summer) and I worked on campus during every semester.

Maybe some day, one of my children will make $10 million in a year. That’s a long shot but I don’t want to see that happen and then see the federal government take away most of it to give to people who can work but won’t work.

We don’t have kings, queens, dukes, earls and other royalty in America. We just have Americans.

I understand that not every can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps but we should never put a limit on how much success someone can attain. Rich people pay a lot of tax and envying them is not constructive.

It’s better to roll up your sleeves, look for opportunities and get to work.

That’s really what the Great American Dream is all about.