To hear the story told out loud is quite remarkable. It’s a story and a fantastical tale – a myth really – recited usually by an idiot. The story is about great feats of power, will, strength, intellect, hard-work, character, individuality, morality, values, beliefs, choices, and fervent religious belief. The story is usually told first person and goes generally like this——

“If they just did as I did — there would not be any problems.” The beginning of the myth is like the first stanza in a blues tune. I was downtrodden, poor, wretched, and victimized. The song changes in the chorus when the protagonist pulls himself by his bootstraps and through individual hard work, strength of purpose and character, great morality, and with a deep faith in Jesus and Christianity becomes the great success he is today. It’s a peculiarly American tale – and it’s a lie.

PART 1

Draw close and listen, for here is the truth. Try and go through this series of questions with an open mind. Each question begins with a phrase.

Did I choose?

  1. To be born in the United States
  2. To be born at a time in world history when the United States, after WW2, largely unscathed by war, and had almost unprecedented power and wealth.
  3. My gender
  4. My parents
  5. My siblings
  6. My race
  7. My sexual preference
  8. My cultural beliefs and practices
  9. My first language
  10. My religion
  11. My athletic abilities
  12. My IQ (largely fixed by age 13)
  13. My personality (largely fixed by age 10)
  14. My body type (predisposition towards fat, medium, thin)
  15. My hair color and thickness (ex.-thick full head of hair in a male is an advantage)
  16. My facial features – smile, eye color, skin tone, cheekbones (all proven to have an effect on future success)
  17. My not having a learning disability (dyslexia, autism- etc.)
  18. My not having a debilitating physical disability (blind, deaf – etc.)
  19. My not having a genetic disability (sickle cell anemia, Down’s Syndrome, etc.)
  20. My not being predisposed to serious mental illness (Schizophrenia, Chronic Depression, etc.)
  21. To be raised with positive reinforcement, encouragement, and assistance when needed
  22. Not to be undernourished as a child
  23. Not to be cared for or otherwise abused mentally, physically, or sexually as child
  24. Not to have educational attainment as a value of my parents
  25. Not to be surrounded by and regularly read books, magazines, etc.
  26. Not to be born into poverty
  27. Not to be exposed to lead or other toxic substances in utero or as a child
  28. Not to be born to a drug addicted mother, or into a family system with serious chemical abuse
  1. To inherit great wealth
  2. To grow up in a family network surrounded by supportive and influential people who could assist me with educational, job, career, and financial goals.
  3. To inherit a successful business from my family
  4. To just plain get lucky (win the lottery, family makes a killing on a stock option, etc.)
  5. A profession that received advantageous policy, rules, or regulation changes not known or predicted by me when I started working
  6. Lowered interest rates and/or tax policies that ended up favoring my success and wealth after I had already selected those investments, jobs, etc.
  7. To be at just the right place and time, or had a chance encounter with somebody, to take advantage of a big opportunity
  8. To come of working age in a positive or booming economic cycle
  9. To be born into an economic system, that from the beginning of the republic, overwhelmingly favored white males for upwardly mobile success
  10. That me or my ancestors never had to worry or even think about voting, slavery, Reconstruction Era (1876-1895) lynchings and brutality, Jim Crow Laws restricting everything I do, being detained or jailed during a war because I was the same ethnicity as the enemy, not to have my Civil Rights taken away for over 100 years until 1964, etc.
  11. Not to be stopped, searched, questioned, detained, or followed in my car or at stores, for no other reason except my skin color
  12. To be born – to a mother who made a mistake or deeply regretted an impulsive choice – that resulted in me being unwanted, reviled, neglected and hated from the very beginning of my life.

There are many more questions, but I stopped the list at 40 for the sake of brevity. My answer to every question above is an overwhelming NO. Your answers could include some YES – but if you are honest with yourself well over 90% of your answers are a NO. Each of the questions above has a direct researched and confirmed relationship with your life outcomes including: health, happiness, wealth, jobs, life satisfaction, motivation, accomplishments, contributions to your family, community, country, and world….etc.

But if you are still skeptical……

PART 2

Read the following short excerpts and reflect on the question asked. These are thought problems – so try and think.

1. Me and Tiger
Tiger Woods is most likely the most gifted and accomplished golfer of all time. Starting golf at a very young age Tiger starting racking up incredible records. Now towards the end of his PGA career here are some things that he has accomplished. 3 straight USA Amateur Championships (a record), 3 USA Junior Championships (a record), 15 Major Championships (2nd to Jack Nicklaus), 82 PGA Victories (tied with Sam Snead), 4-straight Major Championship Victories (tied with Bobby Jones). In addition, all of us who play golf, can attest to witnessing Tiger hitting some of the most incredible single golf shots ever struck. He was a child prodigy – the Mozart – of golf.

Let’s say from birth that you received precisely the same training, coaching, and all other supports that Tiger did. You know — I will throw in motivation – lets just say that you were born with the same motivation and drive for practice that Tiger has. How much better of a golfer would you be today?

I know my answer. I would be a better player – no doubt! I would have reduced my handicap substantially —- maybe even have won some local amateur tournaments or competed in a State Amateur. Winning a State Amateur – Unlikely! Being on the PGA Tour and winning just 1 PGA Event — Highly Unlikely ! Winning one Major Championship —Same odds as the Powerball!

2. I could have been Albert Einstein
He was a poor student, and some of his teachers thought he might be retarded; he was unable to speak fluently (with ease and grace) at age nine. Einstein’s formal secondary education ended at age sixteen. He disliked school, and a teacher expelled him because his bad attitude was affecting his classmates. In 1902 he was hired as an inspector in the patent office in Bern, Switzerland. While he was was working at the patent office he would typically wrap up each day after 4 hours and work on scientific papers at home. Still at Bern Einstein, at twenty-six, completed the requirements for his doctoral degree and wrote the first of his revolutionary scientific papers.

Let’s say that you had the same educational background as Einstein, early on generally disregarded by teachers, disliked school, and spent much time on his own thinking about Math and Physics. How likely is it that you would have continued with the curiosity of self education, spent time in an upstairs room thinking and writing, and finally coming up with scientific theories that would change the world?

The answer to the question is —- Microscopically close to zero!

I used these 2 examples because they are a stark contrast between the super gifted and ordinary making it possible to immediately discern a difference. However, we are all a little like Tiger and Einstein in that we were born with or inherited gifts that in various subtle and not so subtle ways, give us an advantage.

Still an unbeliever ? Try this on for size – check out your lying quotient….

PART 3

The liar’s test. Take it and see first hand the mythology that you grew up with …..

STATEMENT- TRUTH OR LIE?
“The beauty of America is that anybody can accomplish anything they want, be who they intended to be, it just takes hard work, motivation, sacrifice, and belief….etc etc…”

OK – Let’s apply this statement to – let’s say the President of the United States.

  1. We are on President #46 – so clearly not EVERYBODY can be President of the United States — right ! Oops-we didn’t mean literally – or truthfully !
  2. Of the 46 Presidents there has been exactly one minority elected – Oops – well just bad luck I guess!
  3. Of the 46 President there have been zero women elected – Oops – just an accident ! But secretly I really believe that women should not have this important job.

STATEMENT – TRUTH OR LIE?
“ The geniuses that wrote our constitution institutionalized fairness and equality – it says it right there ! The words are there – we are all created equally! That the way it is ……that’s why America is great – we are all equal”

OK – This statement could be applied to thousands of test cases, but lets just look at one-the inheritance tax (or lack of). The right wing radical likes to call this the “death tax” as to shift focus way from equality.

If, as you say, we are all equal why is it that a newborn child can be born into and inherit great wealth, while others can be born——- by no choice of their own ——into great poverty. To make things equal as our founding fathers intended —- should not any inheritance be confiscated and redistributed equally to all newborns equally ——I mean a newborn did not choose poverty —-right?

CONCLUSION

So here it is, my opinion of your theories and justifications

CUT THE SHIT, ASSHOLE!

The fact is —-you got LUCKY ! Most of who you are, what you are, your successes and failures, your wealth or poverty, your health or lack thereof, your happiness or unhappiness, motivation or lack of work ethic, intelligence or stupidity, athletic ability or white man can’t jump, etc. were GIVEN TO YOU BY RANDOM CHANCE NOT MADE BY ANY OF YOUR CHOICES.

You use words like hard-work, ethics, morality, will, determination, faith in God to justify your behaviors. Your arrogance and pride is bolstered 24 hours per/day by FOX News and scam artists like Trump, Alex Jones, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and many others. They tell you everyday what you desperately need to hear — that you did it all on your own without any help, and are deserving of everything in your war-chest of material possessions, wealth, inheritance and …the only reason the other 80% don’t have what you have is because they didn’t work as hard or believe as hard as you – and you want more —what a crock of shit!

You have convinced yourself that the downfall of this country is caused by immigration, socialism, unions, sexual preferences, so-called election fraud, pro-choice, to many Muslims, not enough guns, climate change hoax, wearing masks, vaccine requirements and your “rights”, rap music, taking the knee, rock n roll, too much sex, and the the rest of it ……all red herrings and bullshit …intended for one goal only…to guarantee your continued power, wealth, and control …..

The real reasons why this country may fail and we may lose our democracy ….

  • –  Voting Rights- and the propagation of the lie of election fraud
  • –  Reduced or no taxation of rich individuals and corporations
  • –  The concentration of economic power and control in fewer people and companies
  • –  Erosion of a living wage
  • –  Erosion of Civil Rights (ex.- to protest, unlimited stops, search and seizure, a police state allowing law enforcement almost unlimited rights, etc.)
  • –  Erosion or elimination of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid (listen carefully to the words and watch the actions of Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ric Scott, Ron DeSantis, etc)
  • –  Climate Change (we are destroying the earth and the exponential rate is increasing – costing us more $$ each year, and making more land uninhabitable)
  • –  Increasing military expenditures, involvement in foreign wars, and the political power of the “military industrial complex” – Dwight Eisenhower-
  • –  The defunding of Public Education accompanied by the vilification of teachers
  • –  Lack of any significant legislation in the Congress due to the radicalization of membership – mostly caused by right wing gerrymandering at the local and state levels
  • –  Social media, dark money, foreign money, and the over reach of 1st amendment rights
  • –  Supreme Court radicalization moving towards a radical right wing fundamentalist Catholic theocracy agenda
  • –  The intentional sowing the seeds of institutional distrust by large media organizations, especially FOX and the like, for the purpose of moving viewership, money, trust, and public opinion away from our great institutions (FBI, Justice Dept., EPA, CDC, etc.) to them —what a terrifying thought!
  • –  Trade policies created and secretly supported by wealthy individuals and corporations that move heavy industry, technology, medical, and accompanying jobs and taxes offshore.
  • –  Other ! But there is a small hope in choice — a fading hope —-a dream perhaps of your redemption if you could only do any of the following —-
    1. Quit blaming the victim
    2. Make an effort to listen to differing opinions
    3. Make an effort to meet, talk with, and listen to people of different races, ethnicities, languages, and religious beliefs
    4. Try talking much less, and listening much more (80/20)
    5. Choose understanding over blame
    6. Read more nonfiction books- biographies, scientists, psychologists, etc.
    7. Reduce TV watching and radio listening
    8. See and spend more time with relatives or close friends doing activities outside or just for fun
    9. Go to more theater, musical performances, art shows, lectures, classes, museums, and historical sites
    10. Travel often and talk with locals at the Farmers Mkt, the local cafe, the gas station, the grocery store – make an effort to get over yourself – because you are not “all that”