Motivation Monday ~ "I Have a Dream!" ~ What is the "American Dream?"

Jan. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Today, we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  His legacy is the peaceful demonstration for change in America and his amazing oratory, in particular his 1963 “I Have a Dream speech.”  

If Dr. King were alive today, would he be proud of what has been accomplished?  Would he be proud of America?  Would he be proud of the African American Community?  My fear is that he would not.  He would not be proud of America, nor would he be proud of what the African American community has done with the work he started.

What is the American dream?  What was he fighting for?  “Equality.”  Does that exist?  Not just for minorities or African Americans, does “equality” exist in the world?  No.  It does not.

Our society and our media seemingly relishes focusing on the negative and the “exception and not the rule.”  The news media and society also seems to focus on the rights of the smallest minorities in our society rather than the “majority.” We are a democracy, aren’t we?  We seemingly focus on everything that has gone wrong, rather than everything that has gone right.

Motivation Mondays and Motivate America are about helping people “take action to make things happen,” in order to “become the very best U that U can be.”  “Taking action to make things happen” is a slogan that we believe symbolizes the “American Dream.”  In America, you cannot expect to be “given” anything and yet we have a government that has ballooned out of control and is costing taxpayers billions every day with millions asking what’s in it for them.

Another great leader from the 1960’s, President John F. Kennedy stated, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”  I believe what he was trying to say was, get off your butt and do something!  Don’t keep asking the government to do for you, get out there and do something and make something happen in your life!  “Take action to make things happen!”

Much of our news over the last half of 2011 was about the “Occupy…” movement.  They took action to make things happen, but what did happen?

Dr. King was considered a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, but he was not the sole voice speaking out during the 60’s.  There were many others.  However, because of his amazing oratory and his message of peaceful demonstration, he was able to capture the imagination of America.  It certainly does not mean that it was easy. Today, we will see a lot of video footage of Dr. King successfully delivering powerful speeches, but there were many days and videos of abuse.  Water cannons and police brutality.  Dr. King lead a critical discussion of change.

The “Occupy…” movement had no such leader.  It had no singular voice that lead it to victory.  The “Occupy…” movement will be remembered in history as a blip or a disruption, because they never got their message across clearly.

Dr. King’s message was clear.  He wanted “equality” for the black and African American community of America.

The “Occupy…” movement wanted “an end to corporate greed and corruption," but became the “99% vs. 1%.”  There are too many varying wants and needs of the 99% to present a clear and concise message and rather than digging deeper to find out what the “occupy…” movement wanted, the media belittled and dismantled the movement by focusing on a handful of negative people with negative behaviors.

Did they bother to take a closer look at the greed and corruption of the largest banks in America?  Did they interview people like Rolling Stone’s Matt Tiabbi who wrote a series of great articles about the greed and corruption of the big banks?  ( http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-s...  )    Or did they interview the Bernie Madoff “whistleblower” Harry Markopolos and ask him what he meant when he said, "I would give the SEC an A+ for incompetence and the CFTC an A+ for corruption."  The answer to these questions is, NO.  

While the “Occupy…” movement was seeking to clarify its argument about “greed and corruption” in America, the news media chose to do no research of it’s own or uncover any of the articles or testimonies that were readily available to them.  Instead, they chose to alienate and dismiss the “Occupy…” movement as misguided and lacking direction or leadership.

In one of the most important election years in our history, we as a society must look behind the screens of the news media on TV, in the newspapers and online are telling us, because they are not telling the truth, nor are they telling the entire story.

We have become a “nation divided, not United,” because the news media continues to polarize the message rather than doing the research and provide you with facts.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is honored today, because he successfully became a voice associated with America’s debate over “equality” for blacks and the African American community in America.

Today.  We have an equally important national debate about “greed and corruption” that has become so out of control that the American news media will not share the truth with you.  Instead, they are focusing on polarizing and dividing America into “blue and red,” “black and white,” “Republican and Democrat,” everything except what they should be doing and that is providing you the “truth,” the news.

America.  The “news” is that our “systems” are “broken” and are being taken advantage of to the point that it is literally destroying our country.

The “American Dream” that Dr. King and so many others have fought and died for is becoming just that, “a dream.”

Too many Americans are asking the government to do for them, rather than them doing for themselves.

Too many Americans are taking advantage of their positions of authority and have become too greedy.

Too many Americans that work for us the people, from the local garbage collectors and teachers to Congress and The President of the United States are taking too much and giving back too little.

Too many bankers and people in the insurance and the financial industries have taken what makes America great, our open markets and capitalism, to new levels of greed and corruption and are destroying America.

Today, as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us remember his legacy of “taking action to make things happen.”  He actively lead the national debate about inequality and fought for equality for all that are willing to take part in making it work. Not sit around with the expectation that the government should do it for you.

Today, honoring Dr. King’s legacy, “lets take action to make things happen.”  Wherever you see financial abuse or people taking advantage of our systems, report it.  Whether it be a fellow worker, a fellow teacher, a Member of Congress, a member of your church, a banker or even a relative.  If you know someone is taking advantage of “the system” and it will cost us the taxpayers of America and our children, report it.

In honoring Dr. King’s legacy of speaking out about injustice and taking action to create a solution, we ask every American voter to take a look at www.AmericansElect.org   Those Americans that are myopically focused on voting for a Democrat or a Republican and refuse to look at any other options are a contributing factor of how we have gotten where we are.  Most hard core “Democrats” or “Republicans” have become so locked into their position and philosophy that they have removed any alternative or option.  Hence, the polarization of America.  Just like the Middle East, just like Northern Ireland anywhere that people have locked into their position and have refused to move is where you can find destruction.  To fix this, we must bring in an absolute outsider.  Someone that is not beholding to either party and can truly be a neutral force for change.

It is critical that all citizens get involved with this process of change and that we elect a President of the People, for the People and by the People.  

In the end America, it’s up to us!