Opinion: The American Dream 2022

July 6, 2022  |  By Kathi Tarrant 

Both parents wake up in the morning in a house on a piece of land they don’t own as it is considered government property with a taxable income. While attempting to throw a lunch together and getting the kids off to school, there’s the drive to work in a vehicle they must pay to register, inspect, and perform maintenance on on roads that probably haven’t been properly maintained in years, fueled by gas from a gas station that charges them 56 to 74 cents per gallon tax to repair said roads. And there’s the lingering thought: the price of gas and heating oil now appear to know no bounds.

The parents often work long hours 5-6 days a week, taxed on income as the employer via the government tells them — sometimes threatening them — what they must do re: mandates. They also pay additional tax on practically every other purchased item. And since inflation has risen 7% in the last year while wages have only increased 3%, questions begin to arise re: survival based on need.

The average American family often unwittingly subjects themselves to subliminal messaging via social media and others. And since these are no longer required to tell the truth  — if they ever were — announcers will insinuate how white males, for example, are the problem which may help to explain the recent spate of young shooters. 

COVID-19 isolation, despair and deprivation have contributed to a 30% rise in PTSD amongst others. Since kids are known to act out on occasion, and there is a dynamic at work, the attempt to stigmatize, exclude, de-humanize and eventually eliminate their sense of identity is a reality. In other words, when a happy future starts to seem unattainable, and the psychology of reversion takes place — to behave in a primitive, anomic and violent way — the search for meaning can very quickly descend into barbarism in the way the novel “The Lord of the Flies” describes. 

As it turns out, we’re not as free as we thought we were. Until our conscience trained by socialism wakes the hell up, we’re doomed for extinction. Fortunately, perpetual decline and fall is not inevitable. Despite powerful forces out there, there is still time, providing we understand what is happening and the grave consequences of letting it all take place without a fight. 

Waterbury resident Kathi Tarrant is a professional musician and Republican candidate for state representative in the Washington-Chittenden district.