Ten years after the Bush tax cuts, America is in a “Great Recession”. Yet the Republican Party continues to support policies that puts all the economic burdens on the backs of the poor. What’s worst, every year the cost of tuitions rises, and there is a war against public education. We will be left with a poor, uneducated population as companies continues to send jobs overseas. I am not poor, my job is stable, and I don’t care for the Democratic Party. But I do care and worry for those less fortunate than me.
Before I came to America (in 1991) my dad told me about how great this country is. So much, he almost worried himself to death applying for our refugee passage here.
He also had this almost psychotic worship of “white people”. In his mind, “white people” were basically God’s angels that walked the face of the earth. He had that vision till his death.
That being said. It is hard for me to criticize America and American politics. But as I learn more and more about this country’s history and politics, it becomes harder for me to believe that the “white people” my dad admired so much, are the same people in Congress and our State Capitols.
I specifically remember my dad talking about how in America everyone gets free health care regardless of social economic status or race, unlike in Vietnam where health is something you had to pay for out of your own pocket. Being a sick man, with many health problems, that was one of the most important American values to him. Sad to say, his vision of American health care was overzealous. In America today, health care is a for profit business. It is not a stretch to say many Americans view having health care as privilege reserved mainly for tax-paying, or white Americans.
It is true that until his death, he received free healthcare because we were fortunate to live in the progressive city of San Francisco, but it is also true that if it were up to many Americans, they would rather he have died on the streets because 1) we are immigrants 2) he was too stick to work.
Another American value that was equally important to him is his belief that in America, education is a priority and it will always be free. In Vietnam you had to pay for an education, so many families cannot afford to send their kids to school, instead many kids begin working in the fields at a very early age.
Although in America we have great public schools, every year there are major cuts to school budgets, which continues to degrade our education system. On top of that, every 6 months or so, the cost of college tuition rises. It breaks my heart to hear about high achieving students foregoing a college education because they simply cannot afford it.
Will continue rant later.