>I respect you worked hard, but I also remember that you stated you were not rich.. So what is it?? I do not have the impression you reached the American dream.
>
>You really should educate yourself about things before you criticize them.

I am. Else I would not speak up.

>But really, for most people the American dream is further away than ever. Hard work will not get you there unless you get lucky.

>See above.

You can google on the words "American dream Illusion" and read for yourself. On of the links that outlines it pretty well is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerome-karabel/grand-illusion-mobility-inequality-and-the-american-dream_b_1933238.html


>All I'm saying, snap out of it, and in stead of repeating one another educate yourself about things before you criticize them. IOW, know your enemy and you might learn something about your "friends".

>I have no idea what you are talking about. Or are you just babbling?

Lots of the statements being made here, also by yourself, are made from a certain political angle in which the objectivity is totally lost and where cheap shots and myth and mantras are used to cheap shot the other side. Often out of ignorance and anger. But if you, instead of burning every argument from the other side down, would take the time to understand where the other side is coming from, you might learn a thing or two, including a few splinters in your own eyes.

Tomorrow I'll get a long standing client who has worked and travelled about the whole world, and especially poor countries. And he always says: The more you see about the world, different countries and cultures, the more nuanced view you get world affairs and the more you learn not to take sides.

In case you noticed, we in the EU have a thing going on with Greece which technically are bankrupt. The Greeks are angry because in order to get more loans they have to do as the EU say. OTOH, the EU citizens are fed up with the Greece because they have to cough up the billions to rescue them from an economic meltdown. There are heated discussions back and forth, but the real truth of course lies somewhere in the middle. Yes the Greek did make an entire mess off there economic bookkeeping. OTOH, if the EU really want to help them, you have to give them a realistic chance to ever recover and pay back. Unfortunately this objectivity and the will to find a constructive solution seems to be rare amongst the public.

>However it is the citizen that gets mislead and influenced politically by media and the politicians. Joe and Jane doe (anywhere on the planet) on the average do not have a clue about how things work outside of their borders and therefore vote being totally oblivious on how things really work. In the US, the example of the redefinition of the work "socialist" is a perfect example of that.
>
>Obviously you have delusions of adequacy. You seem to think that you are one of the few people in the world who knows anything about how things really work. Snap out of it. There are a lot of people - even in America - that know a lot more than you seem to think you do.

I've got quite a few American friends who do, yes, even republicans. And I respect them for that. However, they would not come with blunt statement that include terms like socialist and fascism in the context of American politics if the subject opposes their political preference. I've learned that anyone who uses those kind of terms to get their point across usually are oblivious about the details regarding the subject.