Joe Amico
Is the American Dream real? Do we have a right to it, or is it just suggestion? Where did it come from? Joseph Amico, the son of Sicilian immigrants, provides the answers to these key questions in this essay on American history and politics. More importantly, he explains why the dream is in jeopardy and how it can be saved. Raised a Catholic, Amico became a skeptic of politics and government after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Later, when Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were killed, he knew something was seriously wrong. With the war in Vietnam raging, he joined the antiwar and civil rights movements. Immersed in the politics of the day, he saw only one answer to the nation’s problems: social revolution. Now, looking both at the history and present state of the US, Amico explores what is needed to for the nation to move forward—to find a better way of doing things. Our political forefathers promoted radical principles that helped the United States and its people prosper. While we can still move in that direction, it won’t happen by listening to radio and television pundits who distort the views of our forefathers. We must revisit the principles that our country was founded on and let what we know to be the truth become reality. Amico, an ordinary citizen, seeks to shed some light on this complex subject so that “we the people” can claim what’s rightfully ours instead of just dreaming. 3
