There were once great structures in place, set in motion by a government that cared for its people and wanted to help them, and, we believe, set these things into law, in order to protect the average citizen from those in power who cared not about the families and children, but only about themselves, increasing their wealth, and in protecting their power.
In an article in the New Yorker of April 29, 2013, entitled “Don’t Look Down”, by George Packer, the author makes the following case:
“… the structures that were built during the Roosevelt Republic to secure Americans against another catastrophe – banking regulations, collective bargaining, federal credit, business – labor cooperation, public education, a scrupulous press – have steadily eroded. So has the public’s faith in institutions, and the idea of sure upward movement through each successive generation. Americans have been thrown back on their oldest belief of all, the cult of the individual.”
He reports that the current gods in our society are celebrities and entrepreneurs, who preach to us that our success pivots on our thinking that we can achieve success exclusively by our own thinking. These esteemed preachers espouse that we are solely responsible for our own individual successes, or our own failures.
As if economics, corporate America, unbridled capitalism, unregulated greed, impacted education, and a general lack of safety nets, medical care, and a great dearth of general human caring – have little impact on the average man’s ability to not only live a decent life but to better himself and his family. How quickly we forget… and then forget to care.
Randy Mazie
The Writer's Village 
The American dream! Europe is steadily turning into that from the looks of it.
I hope we see more fighting back such as this story:
May Day Protests
I love this story. I think we often forget where we come from. Roosevelt really made a difference for this country.
Yes, he did.
But more so, we need to recommit to the people of this country.