Dreams are nice, but in the cold hard light of day, reality can be daunting and dreams are the first to die. by Raven West
(libertarian)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
There is an old '60′s song by Jay and the Americans, in which the lyrics goes "Only in America, can a kid without a cent, get a break and maybe grow up to be president." It was a nice song, with a catchy tune, but back in the '60′s no one actually believed a word of it. With a history of fat, old, rich white men sitting in the Oval office, the idea that "a kid without a cent", be that a woman, or especially someone whose skin was a bit darker than most, could reach the highest elected office in the land was, well, just a dream.
Then, Geraldine Ferraro, who passed away this week at the age of 75, received the vice-presidential nomination in 1984. When she accepted the nomination, she said "I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us."
Barack Obama was the epitome of the "American Dream." His campaign took the nation, and the world, by storm. His victory in the 2008 election was not the victory of one man, it was a testimony to the very essence of what this country has been telling the world since its birth more than 200 years ago: the "American Dream" can be realized.
Candidate Obama carried with him the aura of a new age of social acceptance, the end of discrimination, of more than 200 years of racial segregation. When he was elected, the millions who gathered on the White House lawn hadn't come to see one young man with dark skin take an oath, they were there to see a visual representation of what we've been saying for decades. The American Dream wasn't just some unattainable ideal. It was, in fact, a reality.
And then, we woke up.
The Obama dream fell way short of the reality of the Obama presidency. We all so wanted to believe in the dream, we voted for a dream; and not a man, or a political ideology. It's not that hard to understand why the Republicans took over the House, or why the Tea Party, such that it is, rose up as quickly as it did. They never got the dream they voted for. Because they couldn't.
Having a dream and living a dream are two totally different things. Dreams are nice, but in the cold hard light of day, reality can be daunting and dreams are the first to die.
The "American Dream" never came true for Ferraro. Not only did her bid for the second highest office fail, it was totally obliterated by a tally of 525-13 electoral votes. Undaunted, she ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in New York , and lost. Twice.
And while it was true that she opened the door to many others who followed, she wasn't really the first. In 1972, a nice Jewish girl from New York City, Tonie Nathan, was the first woman vice-presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party. She was also the first woman to receive an electoral vote. But the media makes no mention of her. No mention at all.
The '60′s song also says that America is the "Land of Opportunity", not necessarily the land where dreams come true. Because of the opportunities that exist in the land of the free and the home of the brave, American women like Tonie Nathan, and Gerladine Ferraro, and Americans of all shades of skin color, were able to open doors, crash through glass ceilings and pave the way for so many more to follow.
The American Dream is that we all have the opportunity to try, and to fail, and to try again.
Whether or not we succeed.
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The views expressed
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do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
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