Public vs. Private

If the entirety of our societal structure is based on the economic infrastructure, not only must we reexamine and redefine our values s a society, but one must question the feasibility of individual progress. How do we reach the top? It is really open to everyone? In principle perhaps. But when your third grade teacher told the class that anyone can become president someday, did you really believe them? Such encouragement seems to serve as a ploy-
“If you work hard enough…”
“Well, if you work hard enough at the right job…”
“If you don’t have anyone holding you back…”
“If you have the right connections…”
The list of criteria is potentially endless. When we are expected to better ourselves by hard work and perseverance it no longer becomes “if you work hard enough…” My mother has been working hard her whole life, but as her labors do not amount to anything terribly valuable to society, she is at poverty level. Thousands of people work full time and are hardly able to support themselves and their dependents. They work plenty hard… Ultimately, value is not placed on one’s work ethic so much as one’s ambition. Society lies when they place the emphasis on the quality of “doing a good job.” It is better to uncover inequality so it can be rectified, unless of course it is more advantageous to leave the status quo undisturbed. In the name of equality it is assumed that the standards must always be risen and never taken down. But if there is no cap, as the base rises, everything is pushed upwards. A minute percentage at the top controls the vast majority of wealth. Would they sacrifice that power in the name of equality? Should they? That would go against everything a capitalistic “Democratic Republic” stands for. Downright unpatriotic. Yet the general public is still placated by our title, which denotes equality… “liberty and justice for all…” On the other hand, how can equality ever really be achieve as there is no utopian society?