Money: America's One True Religion

For as long as long as we humans have bartered and bargained with coinage, there have been countless proverbs on the matter, from the familiar “money can’t buy happiness’ adage of our mothers to the still more true “ Money often costs too much’. Although it is true that the following money has invoked in this world can rival that of any leading religion, it would in fact be false to claim that money is the root of all evil, as our forefathers have told us time and time again. Indeed, it is not money, but the lack of money and what people do to achieve it that’s detrimental to our society. Money itself is neutral, a simple tool that does the bidding of its master and nothing more, yet it is our favorite scapegoat when we lead ourselves down a path of destruction in the quest for it. This distinction is crucial in the understanding of Americans and modern society, and we would do well to remember it.

With that said, there is still no denying the fact that Americans today are indeed far too consumed by the notion of the "American dream" We are trained from birth to not become productive citizens for the sake of bettering the world around us, but for the selfish purpose of attaining profitable careers and fattening our own bank accounts. We are engulfed in the world of consumerism from the very jump, forever on a mission to earn more to buy more of the things that advertisers and big-name companies have convinced us we need. We have become the much scorned drug addicts in a sense, desperately reaching and grasping for that monetary high that seems so close to us at the time, but will remain eternally out of our reach.

This thirst for the dollar has another side effect, the neatly classified social classes in which we desperately cling to and identify ourselves by. The upper tier of society consists of the wealthy and powerful few, the ones in which most of the middle tier Americans place upon a pedestal and frantically try to become. There are measured not by their intellect or their moral fiber, but buy their status and possessions, something Lapham does and excellent job in pointing out. “The visible signs of wealth testify to an inward state of grace, and without at least some of these talismans posted in one’s house or on one’s person an American loses all hope of demonstrating to himself the theorem of his happiness”

The sad truth of the matter is, there never has, and never will be, a such thing as ‘just enough’ money; we, not only as Americans, but humans as a species, will always search for more and be forever short, a trait that will keep us firmly planted on the path of devastation and tragedy.