Throughout our history, we have glorified the American Dream. We tell the stories, often the stories of our own families, of people who gave up everything precious to them, so that their children might live a better life. These families suffer poverty, privation, work at dangerous jobs, live in dangerous neighborhoods, give up all luxuries, so that their children might have better.nnAnd always, always, that provision places education foremost.nnSome will point to laws, to government, to the Constitution, and say \"Here is America.\" They are wrong.nnAs important as these things are they are not our country; they are simply the guardians. This country, is a country of, by, and for the people. And the people who strive for more, who sacrifice and risk all they have, and all they are, to move the next generation forward ARE America. Because as they build and enrich their lives, so America is built and enriched. It is an irony: the poor Nigerian mother working in a sweat shop, to provide the most meager food, clothing and shelter so that her children might have a better chance, is every bit as American as Washington, Jefferson, or Adams. She isn\'t following the American Dream; that Dream is HER.nnSo what happened? This is what we, as individuals, point to and admire in the American Dream... but when government-- our government-- assembles, where did the Dream go? How is it that we will sacrifice everything for this shared individual goal, but when we send our taxes and our votes off to government, that individual passion is gone? How is it that our government does not embrace the American Dream?nnAs individuals, we say that what is most precious to us is our children, and their education. But somehow, we when supposedly speak with one voice, education and children are given a minimal priority.nnWe all know the answer: it\'s us. We haven\'t drawn a line in the sand. We haven\'t demanded that our elected official take care of our Dream, and our children, first.nnWe have watched the campaign donors, the big multinationals, the Pentagon, the bureaucrats, and the lobbyists get the lion\'s share. We haven\'t said that education comes first. We haven\'t demanded that children, ALL children, are to come first.nnThe American Dream is our Dream. And it is high time we insisted that our government protect that Dream, above everything else.
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