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America is often referenced with the idea of the “American Dream” and the “Land of Opportunity.” For centuries, people have flocked to America in hopes of a better life and greater opportunity. However, if they are searching for equal opportunity, America is not the country that they will find it in. Success in the United States is limited to the opportunities available to the individual, and without equal distribution of opportunity, financial success is not reachable to those in the lower classes of American society. Notable educators and authors such as Gregory Mantsios and Diana Kendall have brought the problems of American society to attention, claiming that the rich are getting richer and the poor continue to remain poor. In his essay, “Class in America – 2009,” Mantsios discusses the myths that revolve around class in America, and then refutes these myths by describing the realities of the society Americans live in. Similarly, in her essay, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption,” Kendall writes about the realities of the classes in America while advocating for a change in the way the media portrays the class issues. The United States was founded on the belief of equal opportunity for all individuals, and many still believe that equal opportunity still holds true today. Despite the way media masks the class issues, empirical evidence and research show that equal opportunity does not exist in America due to

Insider trading became a more dangerous operation as the SEC and Department of Justice enforced American laws. Meanwhile, American politics became increasingly associated with wealth. Campaigns became more expensive and with the upcoming election, the Electoral College may select Jeb Bush, fulfilling his role as the third member of what effectively is the Bush dynasty or a Clinton to start the Clinton dynasty. The American government is eliminating the American Dream of individualistic success and instead conjoining economic prowess with political dominance. In practice, the stratified distribution of wealth and the American government system is evolving into a hierarchical regime with dynasties and minimal universal economic opportunities. Over the past thirty years over 50 percent of the wealth has been retained by the top .1% of Americans (Karimi). Instead of regular change, now scarcely does an inventor or hedge fund manager join those leading America. In practice, equal opportunity has become limited to those who already own capital. The American Identity no longer entails the American Dream, but rather is reverting to historical European practices. The United States’ government is an aristocratic republic with growing totalitarian powers. The current American identity is becoming a restricted form of economic determinism with minimal social

Kyrsten Sinema has been leading a life unlike many others’; going from a middle-class early childhood, to homelessness, to co-valedictorian, to practicing lawyer with a PhD, and to “Prada Socialist” in Congress. Sinema was born to an upper middle-class family in 1976. She and her two siblings were raised by both their parents in a five-bedroom house in Tucson, AZ. Her father, Dan Sinema Sr., was a lawyer and her mother, Marilyn, was a stay-at-home mom. Her father lost his job during the 1980s recession since clients were complaining about him, a Real Estate claim gone badly, and IRS debts. This was when the family went from a upper-middle-class status into debts and foreclosure.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., she attended Wellesley College, then earning a J.D. (Juris Doctor) from Yale Law School in 1973. This hardworking presidential candidate is a woman who’s been fighting for children and families for over forty years. Someone who has provided her best works in reaching over the limits of a woman and providing millions of children with health care. This person is Hillary Clinton, and these are the only some of the biggest accomplishments she has made during her lifetime, there can and will be more if she gets voted as President of the United States of 2016-2020. She has been through many experiences in government, such as being an American lawyer and politician, U.S.

In this address Clinton uses a combination of all three to try to convince people of her being the right candidate for the job. Clinton’s rhetoric depends largely on the fact of her being relatable in comparison to the millionaire Trump who makes up the much envied American and criticized elite.

Bernie Sanders once said, “A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little” (“Bernie Sanders Quotes”). He was the runner up for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He seemed to be bringing forth a new era for the Democrats, one that would have been anti-corporation and would finally pass an effective Universal Health Care. Unfortunately for him , big business and the establishment Democrats won again. This election serves as a good example of the Democratic party - a party whose history goes from supporting slavery to enforcing justice and acting as a vessel for change, all the while sprinkled with corporate corruption.

As we move closer to the 2016 national elections in the United States, claims of a growing wealth gap between the supposed “haves” and “have-nots” becomes more pronounced. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton even went so far as to caution us that we are advancing towards a repeat of the “Gilded Age of the robber barons”. The insinuation in this claim creates a perception that there are a growing number of individuals within American society using questionable methods to increase their wealth, all at the expense of the not so fortunate. So-called culprits of these activities are often referred to as the “top 1 percent”; a term gaining a strong foothold in our current vernacular. Although the existence of an income inequality gap is evident, subjectively misinterpreted data is the primary culprit driving the perception that the income inequality gap is expanding.

It is no mystery that that America has inherent issues with taking care of its lower class in comparison to many other developed countries. What is concerning is that people can work a fulltime job or may be even two jobs and still not have the resources needed to make ends meet in this society of consumption. The poor of America do not even receive even the slightest bit of sympathy and are coldly told that they should work harder as if they were not already doing that previously. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, gives up her role as a member of the upper-middle class and speculates on the viability of living impoverished, detailing awful and harmful that life is, and implies much needed changes, revealing harsh injustices

With Hillary Clinton’s recent self-proclamation of “securing” the Democratic nomination, along with the heated 2016 presidential election, has come an Independent, Progressive political movement, with citizens calling for action against a system widely believed to have failed them.

On Thursday, October 20th, the 71st Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner took place in New York. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took the stage, just like every other presidential candidate in the past, to entertain the audience with light humor. The purpose of this dinner is to raise money to help poor families in the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. This year, the dinner raised a record $6 million dollars, despite the behaviors of the candidates. This dinner is typically an opportunity for the candidates to show the country that they are only “temporary adversaries, not permanent enemies, and that leaders have shared values that help hold the system together” (Louis, 2016). Unfortunately, Trump and Clinton took this dinner as an opportunity to make malicious jabs at each other one more time.

The documentary film “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” directed by Alex Gibney is about the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in the United States. The documentary compares the access to opportunities of residents of Park Avenue both on the Upper East Side and in the South Bronx. The documentary includes interviews with a series of people: a doorman at 740 Park Avenue, journalist Jane Mayer, Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker, Berkeley Professor Paul Piff, and Republican advisor Bruce Bartlett. The documentary makes a compelling case that inequality exposes democracy and that the victims of inequality include not only those who find themselves in the rapidly expanding underclass, but the American dream itself.

In a country built from unparalleled equality, our election system is not inclusive of the less affluent candidates. Inevitably, monetary funding has become a centralized focus point for American politics and has provided a reckless entry way for candidates not prepared for the presidency. Taking this current election for example, Hillary Clinton, democratic presidential candidate, received a donation of 25.6 million dollars from the Hedge-Fund, this being only a small fraction of her over all funding. Contrastingly, Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate, has only received 3.2 million dollars in total funding for her campaign. The difference is striking. Providing a

This “middle-class nation” is struggling to support all those who live in its borders and the misconceptions about wealth are vastly overrated. Furthermore, the idea of wealth and stability is incorrect, and there is a very sharp contrast between the rich and poor in the country. As the richest twenty percent of American hold ninety percent of the total household of the total household wealth in the country, those at the bottom have managed very poorly and suffer to get through the days.

This election, many people see a solution to this problem through Donald Trump’s political campaign on a platform of “Make America Great Again”. Trump is running, creating new jobs and improving the economy, which appeals to many people who are in the lower and middle classes who have been left behind by economic inequality. Trump’s largest base of support comes from white Americans who do not have a high school degree. This group usually has a very small income, if any at all, because they are less educated. In contrast, those with a college degree have a much easier experience finding work out of college. This means that those without a high school diploma are looking for economic change in order to gain an advantage and proceed with their economic pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Other groups with large support for Trump are people with mobile homes and “old economy jobs” which are, similarly, groups with lower incomes. Trump appeals to these groups such as the “old economy jobs” because they are losing their jobs as new technology emerges. As “old economy jobs” decline, the demand for new jobs increase; the creation of which Donald Trump endorses. Donald Trump is definitely not a traditional conservative, but he has the ability to attract these groups with his platform through his populist appeal. Thus, a person who is lower in the economic gap would lean towards a candidate such as

The era of volatility has created a shift from America being the middle-class society to simply rich or poor (Sachs, 2011). A gap this large has not been experienced since the 1920’s (Sachs). “The top 1% of households takes almost a quarter of all household income” but an economy this top heavy will not be able to succeed (Sachs, 2011, p. 30). The working classes are struggling with housing, wage, and employment issues. Rich individuals are ignoring these troubles, shipping their business operations out of the country, thus furthering the downward spiral of the economy (Sachs). To make matters worse, this has become in a large part a political issue, because the rich can influence candidates with funding, where the poor and working