December 2004 -- Bye Bye American Dream

Bye Bye American Dream

In this issue...

• Bye Bye American Dream

• Capitalism...It's a Killer

• Empire v. Democracy: Michael Parenti

• Review - Race War!, by Gerald Horne

• Work is for the Birds

• December's Letters

• Nobody Asked Me, But...

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Never before has the divide between our nation’s richest and poorest been so large. Never before has corporate corruption and welfare been so flagrant. Therefore, we watch with rapt attention and desperation the unfolding of the American Dream on so-called reality TV, distracted from the fact that the Dream’s rewards are more fiction than fact nowadays.

"We are a group of mothers in poverty. We came together 18 years ago to produce a newspaper, Mother Warriors Voice, to give a voice to moms, especially single moms in poverty because the war on the poor seemed to be targeting our families. All of the stereotypes and war propaganda against us made it difficult to raise our children. "

Editor’s Note: Michael Parenti is a widely acclaimed author and activist. His work includes Against Empire, Blackshirts and Reds, History as Mystery, To Kill a Nation, and most recently, Superpatriotism. Here Parenti begins by discussing his history of Rome and the life of Julius Caesar, The Assassination of Julius Caesar.

Race War! breaks through pervasive amnesia by telling how for a time the Japanese empire was able to use its claim to be the "champion of the colored races" as a "powerful mobilizing tool in a world comprised overwhelmingly of Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans." What’s more, through this history Horne contributes to a fuller global and historic understanding of racism.

I gave up college to go strike it rich in the software industry by writing software for this startup company, that like many software companies of its kind, promised endless streams of money and happiness in exchange for my ‘20s. Back then, it all seemed like a good idea.