The Anguish in the American Dream
All national narratives are to some extent fantasies based on distortions and fabrications. The United States is no different. The early English colonists had a dream. John Winthrop spoke of a “city upon a hill.” And it continues to the present. It was one of Reagan’s signature lines. Today, as the economic crisis deepens many are realizing that the notion of their children being better off than they is over. Downsized and outsourced. Those good paying union jobs with pensions and benefits are gone forever. If you’ve worked hard all your life, tough luck buddy, you can just be tossed overboard. You can choose between being a cashier and flipping burgers. A lot of working people have figured out capital’s loyalty is only to capital.
Speaker
Robert Jensen
Robert Jensen was a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin for many years. He is the author of Citizens of the Empire, The Heart of Whiteness, All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, and Arguing for Our Lives. He is the author, with Wes Jackson, of An Inconvenient Apocalpyse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity.
C Marin –
I turned my radio on half way into Mr Jensen’s exposition, and while listening to him my mind helplessly wandered back in time to my college days, where critical thinking was a way to question reality and a mean to understand our societal problems, not as an excuse used by the powers to be to prosecute free thinking. Mr Jensen’s discourse was a delightful and articulated intellectual exercise rarely seen even inside the academic speech. His knife cutting yet amusing way to present intelligent thinking made it a delectable dessert to the mind. His style was stimulating and reassuring. I even found it motivational. I applaud Professor Jensen’s exposition. It was an throat cutting, incisive, yet chivalrous and elegant example of what the radical thinking should be.
camille –
The way in which this was written, was so fluid and easy to listen to. Mr. Jensen has put to words an idea that has fluttered into my mind over the years, but I was not able to articulate and so when listening to this broadcast, I was more than thrilled to hear him so eloquently articulate exactly what I believe to be the truth. Well done. Great speaking voice too!
Paul Thomas –
While I believe this monologue would find a broader, sympathetic audience if it didn’t tilt left to the extent it does, Mr/Dr/Prof Jensen’s wholly logical analysis is fearless, radical and terribly important. Even if you disagree with 11% of what he submits, or 99% of it, it’s still well worth your time to listen to, without distraction. It’s dense. In a good way.