Perhaps because they were making so much money out of it, Americans were slow to notice something peculiar about the American dream, and potentially divisive. The ideal of living “unhampered,” as Adams put it, by the barriers to social mobility erected in other countries is meaningful most of all to those familiar with other countries. The American dream is more evident to elites (including well-traveled historians like Adams) and to immigrants than it is to others. It is cosmopolitanism masquerading as American exceptionalism. When the billionaire Peter Peterson announced this year that he would join an initiative launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and use at least half his wealth for philanthropy, he referred to himself as “the son of poor Greek immigrants who has certainly lived the American dream.” Paradoxically, it is Peterson’s Greekness rather than his Americanness that gives him the bona fides to pronounce on the subject.
Optimism in the face of hardship is, of course, one of the glories of America’s immigrant history. A 75-minute bus commute to a job at Wal-Mart, which looks like wage-slavery to the son of a unionized industrial worker, might be a dream come true for an immigrant from a poor country, or even for that immigrant’s son. So it should not surprise us that polling results released by Xavier University last winter showed new immigrants to be among the biggest believers in the American dream. But it ought to worry us more than it does that middle-aged Midwestern white women, according to Xavier, are among the most skeptical about it. Confronted with the economy we are now living through, such people are unlikely to be comforted by assurances that their circumstances beat those of mid-20th-century Greece.
Most of the time we do not realize that what we are dreaming is the American dream, any more than we realize that what we are speaking is prose. World travelers, politicians and self-made men are not wrong to see the promise of American life as a stirring and romantic tale. To the median, native-born American with no other frame of reference but his life’s span in this country, however, it is not a dream. It is simply the social contract. We are increasingly discovering that there are rational, nononeiric ways to measure when that contract is being broken.
The author gives this citation for a Republican president,
“Some of the most destructive government programs traveled under that banner: in 2003, President Bush launched an American Dream Downpayment Initiative to provide federally subsidized booster payments for “deserving families who have bad credit histories.—
but says nothing of the contribution of the Democrats regarding the “housing bubble” and ‘unqualified’ home mortgage recipients. Democrats such as Barney Frank and former Senator Dodd. And there are many more Democrats who could be named.
This places his op/ed in the realm of political propaganda.
Either I don’t understand the point of this article, or the author doesn’t. The American Dream is not buying a big house with nothing down and then earning 30% a year on it.
The American Dream is just that: the ability and FREEDOM to have a dream and then be able to do all you can to realize that dream. Or another way to put it, the American Dream is equal opportunity to pursue your dreams. Nowhere is there any contract, social or otherwise, that says there will be equal outcomes. Thus, all the folks who tried to game the housing market for personal gain and creation of wealth had an equal opportunity to make that happen. That millions of them are going through foreclosure is testament to the system working. That there are bad outcomes to good people is also a testament to the system working.
What would not have been the American Dream would be for some government program deciding what size house you needed and then putting you on a government waiting list for that house. Oh yeah, that’s been tried before. It was called, Communist Russia.
Immigrants (legal) are more grateful and more likely to take advantage of opportunities that are available to all in America. Many young Americans from families that have been here for generations couldn’t be bothered to even fill out the applications. There’s still a ton of opportunities in the US.
I think that what Americans have to realize — and maybe they are doing so more now — is that the world is full of other countries in which you have the freedom to do well, rise, and live a fulfilling life. America is not special, in that regard. While Americans have stood stagnantly waving the flag and insisting that we have some iconic “American dream,” totalitarian regimes have fallen, caste and classist systems have lost their grip, and many people in other countries live good lives that are actually simpler and less-complicated than ours.
I guess I’m one of the middle-aged Midwestern women who wonders about the “American dream.” I’m only a second-generation American on my mum’s side — her family fled Czechoslovakia, brought here to work in coal mines in Southwestern Pennsylvania. (I didn’t get to meet a lot of them — they died young.)
I was raised with a strange mix of optimism, disillusionment, gratitude, and angst. My father’s family (English descent) were a more confident lot; my mother’s family were grateful and proud to be Americans, very patriotic, but their lives also reflected the realities of ethnic discrimination and reminders of their station in American society. A bit of rebellion led my very English grandmother to marry my Eastern European immigrant grandfather — a union that ended in divorce when divorce simply wasn’t done. But the stories and expectations were too vastly different. One side saw limitless possibilities and felt a bit of entitlement in this America; the other side was given passage here to work, told that their Eastern European “weak minds and strong backs” were prized.
Learning from both in my life, I have exhibited confidence and determination, while harboring interior self-doubt. I’ve never expected riches and am content with a modest lifestyle which, in turn, has led some to ask me if I struggle with self-esteem. Perhaps, in this America, that’s a fair question. One thing that both sides of the family had in common was European frugality and a disdain for that which is ostentatious and vulgar. Quality was prized in both humans and goods, and quality didn’t necessarily imply expense.
America is losing its dignity, it seems, and the American “dream” is tied more and more to the amount and type of stuff you can accumulate. Achieving it means the “freedom” to buy Asian-made goods and the duty to assimilate into a culture that celebrates the lowest common denominator. For some reason, the society seems fearful and wary of anyone or anything that aims higher. Aiming higher and suggesting different values is now fretted over as “intolerance” or “discrimination.”
I’ve watched with interest as Americans have opined about the British Royal Family and the Royal Engagement this week. Many can’t seem to fathom any worth in history, tradition, and pageantry and call for it all to be tossed out. One commenter, though, wrote that the British have Prince William and Kate Middleton and we Americans have “Snooki” and “The Situation.” Oh my. That about sums it up, doesn’t it?
America has become a bewildering place for people like myself. Living simply and maneuvering life freely without succumbing to cultural demands and trappings is becoming increasingly difficult. I am Generation X, caught between the idealist-turned-raging capitalist Baby Boomers and the entitled, technology-insatiable Millenials. We vaguely remember when America was a simpler, more cohesive place but our first president of memory was Richard Nixon. And, since then, the crimes that led to his impeachment seem quite inconsequential. Could we ever have imagined back then that someone who disdainfully dismissed Americans as clinging to their guns and religion would be elected as POTUS?
My confused and disillusioned son called me from uni last weekend. With an end in sight to his formal education and a long-standing girlfriend he has plans to marry, he’s finding himself at odd with the prevailing cultural values. First, he sees a career as a means, not an end. He primarily wants to enjoy what he does and put his skills to good use — his goal is not to become privileged and filthy rich but to be happy. For this, he’s been labeled as “lacking ambition.” Secondly, he doesn’t require the “trappings” — fancy house and car, lots of expensive toys. He wants to live simply. The girlfriend wants him in high-powered corporate America and the lifestyle that comes with it. He wanted to know what’s wrong with him — if maybe he does lack self-esteem. Much of America would have him believe that. I certainly don’t. Nor would his ancestors.
“is that the world is full of other countries in which you have the freedom to do well, rise, and live a fulfilling life. America is not special, in that regard.”
Who has the freedom to do well in those other countries? Everyone?
The American Dream is not about “doing well”. The American Dream is about setting your own course and then having the freedom to pursue it.
It sounds like your son is the perfect example of the American Dream (and by coincidence close to my son’s example). He does not want to be pressed into a role or mode that someone else creates, he wants to do his own thing. I would hope he will ignore what other people think of him. I hope he will have the courage of his convictions and will continue to have the freedom to pursue his dreams. It is people like your son who left the comforts of the original colonies and struck out for the western unknown to see what was there and to see what they could make of themselves.
Deacon Warren,
America doesn’t have a monopoly on freedom but sometimes we act as if we do. The Scandinavian countries offer their citizens more personal freedom than America does (not that I’m arguing for legalized drugs, prostitution, etc.). We didn’t coin the word or patent the concept — our country is simply part of the progression of civilization through time. It certainly didn’t start with us and it won’t end with us, either. We can and need to learn from other countries. We’ve got to drop the pat phrases and smugness; we also have to channel much more productively the anger and disillusionment that seems to be seething among the American people.
It is interesting to parent young adults, watching them actively join society and hearing their observations. In reality, my son’s choices will be framed by his social class and the fact that his father is deceased and his mum is disabled. He will have substantial education loans to repay, that a young person in his situation in Europe would not. He will need to find a job that pays well enough to handle his loan payments, basic living expenses, a car, and one that provides good health insurance and benefits. His counterpart in Europe has no (or very minimal) university loans to repay, no need for a car because of excellent public transportation, and health care provided regardless of employment. Which young person will have the easier time with the transition? I hope and pray he finds the balance he wants and he’s able to live his values.
TT2: your romantic description of Scandinavia and Europe is enticing to be sure. And I am not being sarcastic I promise. I have travelled extensively in those places and lived in Brussels for a short while. I agree with you, there is very much a sense of comfort in those places. Things have been exceedingly predictable since the early 1960’s once the ravages of WWII were erased.
If that comfortable, predictable type of existence is what someone craves, then by all means I hope that person can go and live there. I mean that with all sincerity. You have described the benefits quite well but have not mentioned the costs.
Taxation levels resemble those of this country in the 1960’s (marginal rates near 80%). In most cases, new wealth is difficult to accumulate. Except for Germany, passionate innovation is nearly dead. And for freedom? Try to build a house anywhere in Europe and watch how the government gets involved in that (we are getting there!). The social welfare state has nearly destroyed both the family and the Church. Birth rates are far from replacement levels and the Christian notion of servanthood has been replaced by the dole. But again, if that is what people value, far be it from me to rain on their parade and I do not mean to.
But in this country there is a much different dynamic still at work. People still have outlandish dreams that conventional wisdom will scoff at. But they by hard work, perseverence, and a little luck here and there, those dreams can still come true.
Look at all the great inventions and innovations which have emanated from America. Virtually none have the fingerprints of Government on them. Almost without fail, a wild-eyed entreprenuer was the champion to concieve and bring to the world each and every one. Shame on us that we have forgotten how to do basic manufacturing so that we may be the ones to profit from all those great things.
That is the spirit, the spark, and the dynamic which we have and which I hope is never extinguished. If your son kindles even a single dream like that, I hope he will not let the concerns of comfortable, predictable life weigh him down too early. As you commented, some things he has had no control over have, shall we say, worked against him. I hope there is a spark in him that will say “I will not be defined by that, I wll live my dream”.
Anyway, God Bless!
RE: “America doesn’t have a monopoly on freedom but sometimes we act as if we do.”
Well it all depends on how one defines the word “freedom.” That’s why I prefer the phrase “individual liberty.” The more the State gets involved in one’s choices, the less individual liberty.
America still has the monopoly — of almost all countries, and certainly all large countries — on the assurance of individual liberty as a right. Of course — that is declining now, since we do not choose to follow our Constitution any more.
Hopefully that will be reversed by the revival of more interest in that document by voters.