Gateways in American Society

After reading Betsy's post on the ACT, and the way in which it acts as a gateway to top notch colleges for those getting testing accommodations, I wanted to talk about my opinion on the matter. I too believe that our society is based on this gateway system. As I mentioned on Betsy's blog, I constantly see students doing social service for the sole intent of having a nice looking resume. And as I also mentioned, finding a job these days has largely become dependent on your ability to garner connections and use them for special treatment. However, I'd like to talk about where I believe this gateway system exhibits itself the most in American society.

For those of you that have read at least a few of my blog posts, I'm sure you're aware of my belief that most of our problems stem from the government. Well, this blog post will be no different. Because once again, I'd like to blame the federal government for the gateway system in which we find ourselves today.

As I have discussed in previous blog posts (based off class discussions), the military industrial complex is a huge leech on the economy. At the same time that we have businesses producing, innovating, and expanding according to the wants and needs of consumers, we have an industry that gets nearly a trillion dollars from the feds each year so that American troops can remain stationed all across the globe. Remember, this is money that was taken from the productive sector of the economy, and given to the people that were able to give the politicians the biggest donations. Talk about a gateway! That's nearly a trillion dollars down the drain every year to the most destructive sector of the economy (pun intended). Because of the government, defense contractors are able to grow richer and richer as the average American gets poorer.

In addition, consider what happened in the wake of the housing bubble. As the stock market began to tumble, the federal government almost immediately began passing one stimulus (bailout) after another. Now, you might try to tell yourself that the government actually had the people's best interests at heart. But let's take a look at the donations then-senator Obama received (here). If you look closely, you'll find that some of his biggest contributors include big banks. Morgan Stanley. Chase. Goldman Sachs. Citigroup. IBM. And the list goes on. Is it just a coincidence that many of these are the same banks that got bailed out? I think you'll notice the same pattern with corporations. Is this not a gateway? Isn't this exactly the kind of gateway system American's have gotten so increasingly sick of?

But this sort of behavior can be seen from the federal government on almost all levels. With so much money to dole out, you're always going to have people making secret deals, getting paid, and leaving rich. And not just rich. Rich with same dollars that were taxed away from the average American Joe. And this is the biggest gateway of them all. This is why I would argue we currently see a national debt of fifteen trillion dollars, with no end in sight. And this is what has spurred both the Tea Party an the Occupy movements. Although the two may appear to be complete opposites of one another, I think both movements are sick and tired of the same thing.

What do you think? Is the  US government just a massive gateway system, as I argue?