“What’s Right with America is the willingness to discuss what’s wrong with America.” –Harry C. Bauer
When I was younger I remember how people in my immediate setting would talk about America as the great hub of opportunity. If you had dreams, this was the country to make them happen. Nothing was off limits and your reality was as big as you could dream.
However, America has changed. It’s not the same place anymore; it’s done some growing up, faced some pretty difficult times and is now at a standstill, wondering which direction to take.
The Backbone of the American Fabric
The backbone of the American fabric is one founded on hard work, self-reliance and a determination to succeed. Immigrants today want for their families’ security, peace of mind and financial freedom, similar to the pursuit of happiness the pioneers of this country sought.
The America I grew up in was the place where you could make these dreams come true without political fear, without religious discrimination or a dependency on connections to get you through the door. If you have the drive to work hard, have some talent there is potential for very huge success, or at least there used to be at some point.
What Defines the American Dream?
Over the decades, the American Dream has evolved. While the image of a home and white picket fence is a staple, the material aspect of this dream exploded. Not only were Americans aiming for a home in the suburbs, but they wanted the biggest house on the block. Owning a home wasn’t enough but designer labels became a necessity.
Designer shoes, handbags and the latest gadgets became the name of the game. There was this lure of being the newest and freshest, the most often. This shifted how most Americans lived their lives. Living beyond ones means became normal and even acceptable.
Of course, it’s nice to have beautiful things. However, when you start losing the meaning to your life, beautiful things become toxic. This type of lifestyle is not sustainable, and has proven fallible with the onset of the Great Recession (which, by the way, is not over). People continue to lose their homes, deal with debt, bad credit and starting over from scratch. This kind of hardship can either make or break a person, many people are now trying hard to choose.
It’s a major reality check when you can no longer keep up with the lifestyle you create for yourself, and you are forced to revert to the basics.
Does this Dream still Exist?
My answer is yes, it still does exist. People around the globe are still cheering for America to get through its tough time. If you can make it now, when things are tough and you can find the strength to move forward, there are definitely brighter days waiting for you. This hope that things do eventually get better because I live in a coutry where I can control my circumstances, is a very real part of my American Dream.
Photo courtesy of Flickr Timothy Tolle
Ahlam Yassin, M.A.Ed. 
In my lifetime (I was born in 1952), I have seen the American dream go through several shifts. First it opened up to the veterans returning from WWII the chance to pursue higher education, something that had previously been restricted mostly to the already privileged. The education of the veterans led to a huge expansion of the middle class, however, the workers who benefited were mostly white and male. The next huge expansion came as blacks and women were enabled to enter the stream of commerce and become economically successful.
Meanwhile politics stayed mainly in the hands of the rich or those who could get the backing of the rich. As Americans expanded into the ranks of the professions and into the middle class, politicians became more professional and more tied to the rich. A new elite developed in the US, bringing together those who inherited their fortunes and those who created them, a political elite that appeals to those who want to be elites themselves or at least to adopt elite culture and so appear like elites. Obama is a perfect example of a representative of the US elite, and it’s no surprise that his “vision” for the future is based on Americans who graduate from college.
America as a culture is failing, I believe, because it elevates a certain kind of person – the “smartest” and most ambitious kind of person who rises into leadership – above the regular sort of person who doesn’t see personal material success and “intellectual” accomplishment as the be-all and end-all of human value. America is consumed by a culture of arrogant achievement, that mis-measures the worth of humans and the worth of the world. The middle class is a failing project today, an economic slippery spot where some people cling in desperation while others leap determinedly forward into a better style of life. My family’s kind of modest but secure middle class existence appears, to me anyway, to be a victim of the newer aggressive model of world capitalism that the US elites (and other world elites) have embraced for their benefit.
Hey Kitty!
While it may seem like the American Dream is over, people all across the globe still belive in it. This is still the place to make things happen, even if it’s harder than before. This is the hope that keeps people moving forward, even if it may be a blindly guided hope, it is much needed.
I wish my country Nigeria have a dream for our generations. Luther fought for the dream and today a black man is president. Although the dreams has made both positive and negative impact but perhaps the positives far outweigh the negatives.