The United States of America has all sorts of issues with adhering to the spirit of its Declaration of Independence as well as its Constitution, which is quite obvious when we see the difference between how those who have it all are treated, as contrasted with those who are struggling with life and doing no better than just keeping their collective heads above water, if that. It is one thing to want to uplift the common man and to rail that the government needs to do more, and it's a very different thing to actually spend time with the common people so you can really live and feel their life.
To best understand where the common person is coming from necessitates not just spending time in conversation with them, but really being amongst them, in one's everyday interactions and transactions, because unless we can experience their vulnerabilities and better appreciate their difficulties and challenges by personally being there with them, then we really have not fully understood or empathized with their situation. That is to say, we need to meet the common people where they are, not where we want them to be, and, more importantly, we need to listen more thoughtfully throughout our conversations with them, as well as to do activities with them. Indeed, if we really care, we need to do more to walk in the shoes of those who are the common folk, so that we can fairly experience what they are having to deal with, and thus understand their situation better, which will make it more readily apparent where improvements can be made so that they can have more opportunity to experience America at its finest.
It has to be admitted that it's easy to dismiss the concerns of others when our own life consists of the benefits of mostly having things go our way, which makes us believe that if those others who are not so fortunate simply pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, they too could enjoy the same sort of life that we have. What is lost in this equation is that capitalism as practiced appears to be a zero-sum game, made quite evident by the fact that this nation does not believe that those that labor and put forth an honest day's work are thereby entitled to an honest day's wage, because the minimum wage as structured by the Federal government is not a living wage, and those that lack material wealth are susceptible to the type of struggle which far too many people in and out of government turn a blind eye to.
In society, we ought to hear the voice of the voiceless, and we ought to see and feel the plight that so many good people must deal with on an everyday basis, so that we can better understand the challenges that they face, and the best way to comprehend that better is to spend time with the common people and then, from those interactions and experiences, do something constructive to bring change for the better, brick by brick.