Where's OUR American Dream?
Dear Editor, July 26, 2026
Everyone is angry in America. We see it online and everywhere. It is not just politics. We hate our job, not finding our dream job, celebrity fashion choices, movie cast choices, the price of gas, cost of food (while we down our $10 Frappuccino), our 3rd marriage and not having everything!
Why? Because at its heart, we feel entitled to the American Dream, and either it was denied to us or it arrived in a dented box labeled “Some Assembly Required,” and missing the instruction manual. “THEY” lied to us. Since we are ENTITLED, everyone around us OWES it to us.
However, we forget history and global economics. In the 1940s, Americans had to kill and die by the thousands to help create the American Dream. World War II wrecked much of the industrialized world while leaving American factories intact and eager to rebuild the world. We became the only hot-dog stand still open after the apocalypse, ready to sell steel, cars, refrigerators, and optimism by the crate.
And help rebuild the world we did. We rebuilt our former worst enemy, Japan, into a republic and a global economic superpower, because apparently our foreign policy sometimes includes creating future competitors as a surprise sequel.
During the 1950s and 1960s, manufacturing boomed in America. We flooded the world with American goods. Good-paying factory jobs were everywhere. A person could get a solid job, buy a house, raise a family, and still afford a couch the size of a battleship. Then the 1970s kicked in the door: Japan built cars better and cheaper than we could. It was like discovering your little brother beat you at your favorite video game and also wrote a better instruction manual.
Other countries followed. They copied and improved our assembly-line process. We invented the recipe; the rest of the world showed up with spices, better pans, lower labor costs, and a suspiciously good noodle soup.
Fast forward to now. China and other countries dominate manufacturing. They pay their workers far less, so American companies struggle to compete. Manufacturing moved overseas and now sends us postcards in the form of instruction manuals written by someone who speaks English as a fourth language.
But before anyone declares their generation uniquely doomed, consider:
Your great-grandfather may have fought and died in World War I (circa 1917). The 1918 Great Influenza pandemic killed 675,000 Americans. The Great Depression (1929 -1941) created 25% unemployment, which makes “my streaming service raised prices again” sound slightly less like civilization collapsing.
Then Japan bombed America in 1941 and we joined WWII, losing 417,000 American lives. That is a stronger inconvenience than waiting nine minutes for food delivery.
Every generation faces tragedies, heartbreak, and challenges. That does not make today’s problems trivial, but it should make us pause before treating slow Wi-Fi like the fifth horseman of the apocalypse.
The difference now is that America is in serious decline. Our government spends more than it takes in, EVERY year since 2001 and soon other countries will view us as the deadbeat brother-in-law who keeps asking for “temporary loans” while holding a brand-new television.
The irony is that we are the engine of our own destruction, which proves we still manufacture something domestically: consequences. China is our biggest rival, yet we feed its power by buying mountains of cheap goods from it, to prop up the American Dream façade. Nothing says “strategic competition” like funding your rival one discounted toaster at a time.
But I digress. The bottom line is that SACRIFICE created the American Dream. Previous generations did not assume that they were entitled. They died, suffered, endured. But they also loved, raised families, and built the greatest country ever. Maybe the Dream was never a gift card. Maybe it was a group project—and yes, unfortunately, that means we still must do our part.
Leighton Loo
Mililani, Oahu
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OHA CANDIDATE NAME CONFUSION
STATEMENT FROM TRUSTEE KELIʻI AKINA
Open Letter, July 19, 2026
There have been questions about the 2026 OHA election, so I want to clarify: I am not running for re-election this cycle.
A candidate named Adrian “Kealii” Akina is listed on the ballot for OHA Trustee At-Large in 2026. While our names are similar, we are different people.
I remain honored to serve as your OHA Trustee At-Large, and my current term ends in 2028.
I encourage you to participate in the election process.
Thank you for your friendship and support.
Aloha,
Keliʻi Akina, Ph.D.
Trustee-at-Large, Office of Hawaiian Affairs
DISCLAIMER: This is a campaign message from me in my private capacity and does not represent nor use resources of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
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Maui: Getting Away with Hammer Attack?
Dear Editor, July 1, 2026
Aloha.
It is simply astounding that the identified suspect still has not been charged for the vicious hammer attack that occurred June 10 outside Ray’s Deli and Lounge on Maui, even though the attack was clearly captured on surveillance video which has appeared on social media and television news.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of second degree assault, and was immediately released pending further investigation, reportedly before police were aware of the video.
But this is now a clear case of second degree attempted murder: the suspect armed himself with a deadly weapon, waited for the victim, then struck from behind with a vicious blow to the head.
The victim suffered serious injury but reportedly did not want to press charges. That doesn’t matter. This is a criminal case for which very compelling evidence besides victim testimony exists and is clearly sufficient to support conviction. There was also at least one witness to the attack, who is clearly visible in the video.
Amazingly, the suspect was reportedly drinking in the same bar the very next day!
It is absolutely astonishing that neither the police, prosecutor, nor mayor have provided any information about this outrageous case since the suspect was released and the video became available, despite deep concern and frustration among many Maui residents.
Please investigate this situation and inform the public, since we obviously cannot rely on Maui’s public officials to take proper action and keep the public safe and informed.
Perhaps the Attorney General or some other entity needs to step in and investigate not only the crime, but the failure to prosecute.
Mahalo
Anonymous
Maui