The American dream is becoming an illusion
Dec 22, 2017, 6:16 AM
(Manuel Elias/United Nations via AP)
(Manuel Elias/United Nations via AP)
The United Nations has scolded the president for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
RELATED: This would really silence the tax reform critics
But that’s not the only scolding we’ve gotten.
The latest UN report on human rights accuses Congress of trying to turn America into “the world champion of extreme inequality.”
Professor Philip Alston, who was commissioned to write the report, told me that during his two-week tour of America’s most impoverished areas, he saw scenes that belong in the third world. There are cities where people live in tents, rural areas with no sanitation, schools where learning is impossible.
To him, it shows America has given up on equal opportunity.
“Equality of opportunity is a great idea. But if you’re born in a poor area. If you have bad nutrition from the very outset. If you get almost no adequate healthcare. If you go to lousy schools. You don’t have equality of opportunity.”
But, I said, wouldn’t it be too expensive to provide benefits to people just because they need them?
To which he replied: “These poor people are costing you a fortune because they’re currently all being treated either in prison or in the emergency room. You could stay in the best hotels in many states more cheaply.
So the bottom line, we failed our UN human rights report. I asked Prof Alston if there’s a penalty for that. He said no, there’s only a warning — that the American dream is becoming the American illusion.
“I think what the United States needs more than anything is a mirror.”
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
