The Postal Service hits a jackpot of irony

By Bill Bonvie

The depiction of a knock-off Statue of Liberty on the U.S. Postal Service's new "forever" stamp has been called a "case of mistaken identity." But the substitution of a Las Vegas casino's replica for the actual icon in New York Harbor couldn't be more symbolically suited to the United States of today.

A century ago, that welcoming statue might well have represented the aspirations of those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, who believed this country offered everyone a chance to strive for a decent standard of living. To be sure, on stepping off the boat, many of these "tempest-tost" folks found themselves exploited by factory owners and living in squalid tenements. But unlike the places they fled, America offered opportunity and optimism - the proverbial promise of a better life for those who could work their way out of poverty. And many succeeded in doing just that (my Russian-born grandparents among them).

So important was that promise that when the country found itself in the throes of an unprecedented economic collapse, the government put millions back to work revitalizing its infrastructure and creating public works that remained viable for decades.

Today, however, that sense of potential has been significantly downsized, along with the security that once came with middle-class status and the opportunities to perform productive work of any kind. There is perhaps no better reflection of the latter than the thousands of applicants who recently showed up for a shot at low-wage jobs at McDonald's. Apparently, the "golden door" Lady Liberty lifted her lamp beside has been replaced by the Golden Arches.

So it's only fitting that the statute represented on the first-class stamp - the one adorning Las Vegas' New York-New York Hotel and Casino - is only half the size of the real McCoy. Rather than a renowned beacon to immigrants seeking a new world of opportunity, it's an ersatz monument to the masses huddled in front of slot machines, the majority of which will leave somewhat poorer - and probably more tired - than when they arrived.

The Postal Service's mistake might not have been so accidentally apt if what happened in Vegas had actually stayed in Vegas. But over the past few years, the casino culture spawned by that city has spread to the far corners of the land, coinciding with the American dream's transformation into a rare prize in a vast game of chance.