The Roots of a Weed

I'm about to go on another rant about being upset with America's values (a common theme amongst my blog posts) so if you'd rather not listen click back now.

Now that that disclaimer's out of the way, I would like to announce that I've found the roots of one of our countries main problems; consumerism! Perhaps it's excessive to say that I discovered it alone, and that it is the sole root. Butler on page 154 suggests that Americans from the start imported plenty of European products. Was it ncessary? Probably not. But they rellied on luxuries from their home instead of compeltely distancing themselves, and comepletely detaching themselves from the consumerist attitude they came from.

That is one of the roots.

The other one exists within the American Dream. I was in a class called Justice Seminar last year, which I've probably talked about before. It was addressing social justice issues and we spent a lot of time on the evolution and devolution of the American Dream. The American dream, in theory, suggests that anyone may move up from their socioeconomic level by tightening their bootstraps and working hard. Cullen suggests that this upward mobility was fully available to early colonists, and was pioneered by Benjamin Franklin. Over time this has faded into nothing but an ideal. Socioeconomic levels have been concreted and harder to move about. It is the devolution of the American dream.

Hm, maybe that doesn't fit into my root metaphor. Oh well, I like it anyway.