I Came In Like A Powerball
What the Powerball reveals about America
The Powerball is an American lottery that is offered by 44 states. To many the idea of winning 1.6 Billion dollars (or some fraction of it) is the answer to all their problems. To me the craze of the lottery was more than that; It revealed the extent of how upside down our society in America is, and how empty our aspirations have become.
This is not to blame the American people since most are victims of their environment, I’d simply like to share what I saw in all the buzz over six numbers.
In the last two weeks all I’ve heard people talk about is the Lotto. What I found is that more people are willing to fill out a lottery ticket than to fill out a voting ballot. Why is that? In the land of freedom, equality, and more importantly democracy, voting is what people are supposed to do when they’re dissatisfied, and yet more people had hope in winning the Powerball which was a 1 in 292 million chance. You have a higher chance of getting hit by lightning (the odds being 1 in 700,000).
This disillusionment in our government did not come from thin air. We as Americans see how legislature is near impossible to pass, and while the majority of the population is a diverse youth, none of that is represented in Washington D.C since politicians tend to be white old men. However, the imbalance in our priorities stems from a far larger place, the media. Television in particular.
We are constantly bombarded by the latest trends, and gadgets. We are always on top of shows that we can live vicariously through such as the Kardashians, or My Super Sweet 16. The Media does it’s best to blind us from the neglect we are suffering from our own government.
Believe it or not people in other developed countries don’t live to work. Sweden for example has one of the highest amounts of vacation days coming in at 41 paid vacation days. In America you get two weeks if you’re lucky enough to have a job with benefits. In the UK healthcare is free to the sick, and yes it comes from tax dollars but it’s nice to know you won’t be homeless after an unexpected health problem.
The people in America who can enjoy a vacation, who can work one job and spend time with their families, and can afford to be sick is the rich. No wonder everyone was stepping on the gas towards their nearest liquor store. We feel like we can’t make it no matter how hard we work, and it’s sad how our society feels the only way you have a real shot at surviving is by winning the lottery.
“[T]he characters who appear on the economic stage are but the personifications of the economic relations that exist between them.” — Karl Marx
As Marx talks about in Chapter two of his book: exchange value exists in a market society, but the value is based on how we organize society. Our society is organized in a way that the rich put the value on our commodities and the value (or lack there of) on the labor we produce. Naturally this means in ways that make us live pay check to pay check.
We have to see through what the media wants us to care about. We need to read about issues, register to vote and act on them. Our aspirations should have a greater and longer lasting effect.
America doesn’t need another rich person. What we need is the average American to have, at the very least, the opportunity to put food on the table without having to sacrifice their entire life. Poor Americans are still Americans so our government should start acting like it.
