Please remember that you are choosing to read my opinions.

Do you really believe there are limitless opportunities for those who work hard?

Well, I don't.

Unless you believe a fetus chooses its mother, a child their background/traditions/beliefs/income, that a child has a say in where it is born and what schools it will go to, and so on, then you can't believe that merely through hard work and determination, that any person can obtain prosperity. The American Dream is something that everyone wants to believe in simply because it is optimistic and hopeful, not because it is likely and the inevitable result of hard work. I feel that the key word is dream.

It is ridiculous to say that the same opportunities are provided to everyone, and without the same opportunities being given to everyone, there is not an equal chance for any random person to obtain prosperity. That is to say, that someone that starts from the very bottom is much less likely than the person who starts in the middle to make it to the top.

And you must understand, the poor have very different views about the way things work than people who are not poor. When you come from a middle class background, it might be natural for you to think that it isn't so hard to be successful. But it's very different to be from the lowest class.

Imagine, if you will, that you are approaching a cliff from a distance. At one side of the cliff is a hill with a long and winding gated road that takes you halfway to the top. At the top of the cliff is your destination, a house, that you can see. As you approach the cliff's bottom, you start to lose sight of the house. When you arrive at the bottom, all you can see is the sheer face of the cliff. From where you are standing now, you can't tell how far it is to the top. All you can see is a wall of rock that seems to reach into space. From the cliff, you see a rope that you have to assume is attached securely at the top of the cliff. As it is, it appears to be dangling from the sky.

If you were standing at the top looking down, you would think it was a long way down, and that the only way you'd go is if you fell or were pushed. But, you are at the top, after all. How hard could it be to get there? You've always been there.  From the bottom, you would think that it is a long way up, and if you had the strength and resources, you might try to make it. If you were able to drive up to the middle and look down, you'd think that it was a long way down, but if you climbed long enough, you'd make it to the top.

When you are poor, you don't have the same point of view as the rich.

You are standing at the bottom of a cliff that reaches into the sky, faced with a dangling rope that you don't even know if you can trust.