Day by day, America is earning a well-deserved name for itself, that is slowly becoming a popular term of endearment encompassed by fellow global powers such as China, France, and Japan: Selfish. But you are already knew this. Example one out of 19,812: the market system. Yes. The pure market system. The economic system which has enabled America’s society to thrive and pummel through all competition- or dare I say, the unfortunate?

The market system was quickly adopted, and without much thought, by three Republican presidents known as Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover according to BBC. Three Republicans who already had their foot in the door since the millisecond they entered this world, due to family connections in the public arena, and a presumably promising thirty six figure income, had signed off on a document that permitted all of their friends back home to become richer and richer; while the rest of their old neighbors who had lived across the bridge in a slum became poorer and poorer, and in the market systems eyes - weaker.

In fact, we used to live near a man known as the Professor, who was sucked into the world of athletics at a young age, and still has not returned, even with two sons to distract him. Carter, the oldest son must have weighed 110 pounds, and could be heard from across the street practicing for his orchestra recital. Hayden, the youngest of the two, must have weighed 185, and could be heard from across the street yelling “hut, hut”, followed by what seemed to be his friends own orchestral concert, where as nothing but grunts, thumps, and tackles could be heard. I’ll never forget the day my family was invited over for a barbeque by the Professor, in which Hayden was polishing off his second lemon meringue bar, courtesy of my brothers and I, compared to Carter’s zero. There were bugs almost sticking to the thin plastic wrap that circled around the last heat induced, and soggy bar, which practically had lemon gushing from the sides and sticking to the wrap that closed it in. After timidly cleaning the ketchup off his face with a Fourth of July napkin, Carter stretched out his dainty, slender arm and reaches for the last lemon meringue bar just as Hayden gets ready to inhale his third. The Professor, without a care in the world, managed to squawk all the way from the keg, “ya gotta wrestle for it!” Hayden whirled around to face his opponent and saw none other than a bug-eyed Carter, who politely uttered the hopeless words, “you can have it,” which was followed by a symphony of laughter and humiliation. The Professor, like the market system, had enabled Hayden to act in his own self-interest by dictating a requirement, such as money, or in this case strength to acquire more than he deserved.

Some New Age narcissists whine about the big, frightening pothole that strikes out of nowhere and is the number one killer among venti Starbucks drinks, when one in every six people that the driver passes will be more concerned with eating a meal that day, than dodging a pothole according to Feeding America. However, the most ridiculous part of that truth, is that politicians would rather worry about fixing potholes than starving children, and families throughout America. In Tucker Carlson’s novel, “Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution,” he tells the unfortunate truth about, “the group of people whose wealth has grown beyond imagination, otherwise known as the new American Elites, even as the rest of the country has withered. The people who run America now rarely interact with it. They fly on their own planes, ski on their own mountains, and watch sporting events far from the stands in sky boxes. They have total contempt for you.” Tucker Carlson exposes the naivety of American politicians who were enabled to become rich beyond belief by the market system, which in turn has desensitized them to the very real struggles in America. Acting in one’s own self-interest can result in problematic behavior, which is why the market system should be replaced with the mixed economy, where there a limitations.

I know all these Fiji water guzzling parents, hope to have their children grow up in the same cozy womb in which they did, and their foremothers did, with four cars parked outside their six-story mansion. However, isn’t it time for all the Carter’s in society to finally win their lemon meringue bar?