Everybody knows that in American English, "religion" means "believing
what you know ain't so," or more precisely, that non-negotiable body of
beliefs which is held to be True and normative despite any evidence to
the contrary. "Kool-Aid" is a reference to the Jim Jones cult, where he
led his followers to some small South American country, then induced mass
suicide (believing what you know ain't so) in them by having them drink
a poisoned beverage generically known by that trademarked name. Thus "Kool-Aid"
entered the language as a metaphor for believing (and acting on, which
is the nature of "belief" in) an irrational religion.
So when I refer to "the American Kool-Aid" I am referring to the irrational dogma hammered into every kid's mind by the American school system, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (understood as "people" because the language has changed since 1776 and the word "men" is now assumed to exclude females) are created (nonsensically understood in the American Established Religion taught in the public schools as "evolved" despite the fact that Darwin's doctrine teaches the opposite of the first line of the Declaration of Independence) equal."
It is "Kool-Aid" because it is patently obvious that people are not equal in any intelligible sense of the word. Some people are male, others are female, and still others are born either male or female but they are confused about who they are. Anyway, everybody knows that men and women are profoundly different, but that is a topic for a different essay. There are also differences in height and weight (although weight is more of a choice than innate) and culture + values, which is again usually a matter of personal choice, although few people choose consciously.
Values in turn significantly affect power and wealth, which in the United States is far more elective than in most of the world and in most of history. If you want to be rich and/or powerful, and you either are taught the necessary values as a child by your parents, or else take the trouble to figure them out (very few do), you can achieve it. The Kool-Aid says that anybody can do it, but the reality is that we are stuck in a value system that we acquired too young to consciously think about it, and nobody that we are willing to believe tells us any differently.
Most people in a pluralistic culture as we enjoy in the US of A -- including most people who think of themselves as "Christian" -- are syncretistic: we (unknowingly) mix elements of different religious faiths and believe the amalgum. Pretty much everybody in the American churches buys into, in whole or in part, the American Kool-Aid. The Bible makes distinctions between male and female, the churches try not to. The Bible recognizes that some people are rulers, others are not, a difference denied by our Kool-Aid formula. Early in the Bible God chose out Jacob and his sons to receive special attention and favors, and then Aaron and his sons to be priests (think: "more equal than other Israelites). Some of that distinction went away for Christians -- that's where the Kool-Aid idea originally came from -- some did not (which is why we recognize the Kool-Aid to be religion and not just facts).
Anyway, how does this Kool-Aid affect our lives? USA is most egalitarian nation in the whole world. If you want to do anything your heart desires, and you are willing (and able) to do what it takes to get there, you can get there. Most high goals are mutually exclusive -- you cannot become Top Dawg in more than one domain -- and often there are cultural and/or physical impediments to be overcome, but wanting to do it and doing what it takes will overcome most impediments, especially race, gender, religion, and national origin. A short guy can become a super-star basketball player, but it's harder than it is for a tall guy. A woman or racial minority can become CEO of a major corporation, but it's harder than a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant guy -- mostly because women and racial minorities and other religions have different values (think differently) than guys raised in Northern European Protestant tradition. You succeed at busines or politics by doing things that benefit other people. That's not obvious, but it's How Things Work. Protestants teach their adherents to read and obey the Bible, and that's what the Bible teaches. Women (and other people) usually prefer to believe what other people tell them, and they don't get the same message, not even from the pastors. It's not a lack of opportunity, just a different focus.
Both business management and politics, success happens when other people feel their needs being met, obviously in the case of business, because if the customers are not happy they won't buy your product, and selling product for more than it costs to make it is the nature of profit. Successful politicians likewise need to do (not just promise, which otherwise only lasts for one election cycle) what their constituents want. Even employees down from the top rung of the corporate ladder need to do what their employer wants to pay for if they want to keep their jobs. It's the Golden Rule taught all over the Bible, and not much anywhere else.
The equality of the American Kool-Aid is an equality of opportunity that comes from following the Golden Rule. But you gotta have the wanna. If your top priority is to get rich or famous -- and not follow the Golden Rule -- you probably won't succeed, and it's your own fault, not for any lack of oportunity. The Kool-Aid part is that equality does not come for free, you have to work for it, and not everybody is equally willing to put the effort into it. Some people are taught the necessary values at a very young age, and most people are not. That's an inequality that you can overcome, if you know how, but (Catch-22) the knowledge -- mostly the values -- is unequally distributed. Anybody can read to gain knowledge, anybody can choose what they value most, but some values create wealth (for other people, and thereby for yourself), and other values do not. It is what it is, and the USA is rich and powerful because more people have the necessary values and Do The Right Thing, than people in other countries. "To him who has, more shall be given." They all started out equal in the story Jesus told, but some worked at it harder.
Tom Pittman
Rev. 2026 March 13