Remembering George Carlin and the American Dream

“It’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

Legendary comedian George Carlin died seven years ago today, and his most memorable moments are making the rounds on the internet. Over at Reddit, people are looking back on his “American Dream” monologue (or introducing it to the younger generation) and getting a funny, cynical slap of reality to the face. And after all the media circus surrounding Donald Trump and other bizarre presidential hopefuls lately, Carlin’s speech is worth a listen.

“Forget the politicians,” he famously said. “They are irrelevant. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice! You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls.”