Stealing The Joy From Ordinary Citizens

Each day survival gets harder for everyday people. They wake up, read the newspaper, drink a cup of coffee and turn on the television only to find another one of life’s basic joys ripped off. Their dreams elude them as they go through the day hoping to keep their dignity intact. For each day they attempt to hold on to hope, another person in a power position devises a new method to further dehumanize and destroy the aspirations of everyday people.

These are joy stealers. They are people who look like you, claim they work for the greater good; yet they constantly seek to control and manipulate the lives of average citizens. They wear different guises-politicians, teachers, bosses, police officers, bankers, co-workers, next door neighbors, school officials, criminals, friends or lovers.

Whether it is drinking, smoking, playing loud music or eating peanuts on an airplane, joy stealers don’t like it. They protest about it and write new laws to forbid you to do it. The more you enjoy something the harder joy stealers work to take it away from you. The irony is that ordinary citizens let them get away with it. Why? Does it take that much effort to fight back?

If you are an average citizen who wants a life filled with joy and happiness …welcome to the real world. Happiness is a fading illusion. The things people used to enjoy have slipped away. The simple pleasures of life are no longer simple. The majority of people want to take care of their family, send their children to college, have a steady job, have a good weekend and go on vacation once or twice a year. Joy stealers work overtime to thwart your efforts so you cannot achieve your goals. Their national pastime is holding your joy and happiness hostage.

The “American Dream” used to be obtainable for ordinary citizens. The house, two-car garage, white picket fence, 2.5 children and a good job are no longer a certainty; The ‘Dream’ a package deal which contains your happiness, joy and personal freedoms has vanished. The Declaration of Independence promised citizens the enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When did it slip away?

The glue that held families together also doesn’t exist anymore. Families used to get together, talk to each other. They ate dinner together. They sit on the front porch and talked neighbor to neighbor. They laughed together, shared hopes and dreams. They watched the children skate on the sidewalk or play ball in the street. They didn’t have bars on the windows and doors. People felt safe in their homes. They talked about love, happiness, joy and good times. Those days are gone and misery masquerading as progress is slowly killing society by degrees.

Something is happening to America’s moral fiber…and pay back is not pretty. People denied basic necessities (shelter, food, health care and housing) are losing their grip on reality. They commit violent acts against each other and use drugs and alcohol to escape the pain of their existence. For many citizens the American Dream is unreachable and they have lost hope. This country has become a land of haves and have nots-the “Divided States of America.”

For citizens born in this country being one of the have-nots is to feel helplessness in its truest form. To sit on the sidelines of life watching the rich get richer; the have-nots lose a little bit more of their dignity and pride each day. Many people don’t have a name for their dissatisfaction; they just know their life has gotten worse. They watch joy stealers prosper while they live in misery and poverty.

Joy stealers have made bad decisions and they are not content managing their own lives. They have passed bad laws and they continue to up the ante for citizens trying to survive day-to-day. As a result of their bad decision-making, the man-on-the-street doesn’t know who to trust anymore. Joy stealers, blinded by their own notion of what is success cannot relate to the issues of ordinary citizens.

The government is a major joy stealer and a first class enemy of ordinary citizens. Ordinary people are taxed and charged for living. The department that is intentionally ruining society (IRS) takes your money for the federal government and the department for motorist’s victimization (DMV) take it for the state governments. Build a house and you pay school fees (even if you don’t have children) and you can’t add on to your home unless you buy a permit.

Millions of dollars are being spent to educate children. The irony-schools are failing the students. Johnny can’t read, do math or pass standardized tests. However, he can find a gun to kill his classmates, teachers and his parents. Should the little red schoolhouse be revisited? Kids learned in the little red schoolhouse and it didn’t cost a million dollars.

Let’s vote for “change”. Have you heard? If you don’t vote you don’t have the right to complain? One thing is clear; everyday citizens are the most trusting and the most gullible human being on the face of the earth. Their feelings, sense of value and what they hold dear is manipulated by people who dress up to look ordinary” (just one of the good ole’ boys) to win votes. They lie (spin) to win votes and once they have your vote they forget you until re-election time. You, however, have given the joy stealer five times your salary, a house on the hill and private schools for his children. He then spends the next three or four years drafting laws to take away your personal freedoms and making sure that you stay poor.

How many times can citizens allow this to happen? History supports “indefinitely” because it keeps happening. The joy stealers get a little bit richer and the elusive American dream grows further and further away from ordinary citizens with each passing day.