American Dream
While that notion is always present to us it took a fellow coworker of mine to get e to truly appretiate it. He's from another country and sends a portion of his income to his family in his home country. He had an issue with his last paycheck and in a frustrated tirade he explained to me that the American Dream was dead, this country was only for the rich.
The comment immediatly sne the wheels in my head to turning and it was at that moment I realzed how badly the idea was misinterpreted. Since the dawn of this country people have flocked here not for the false promise of a better life but the realistic opportunity for one. While not many people strike it rich per se, most live a good life depending on their own ambition to live their dreams whether it's a family or a good paying job. From the earliest days if this country the people that came here were willing to work and gie everything they had for that lone opportunity. Since then those that come to this country and those that live here are in a mixed bag of ideas. Some are willing to work while others, such as my coworker, believe everything should be handed over to them just because this is a wealthy country.We've gained this wealth because of our forefathers who sweated and bled to make the American Dream available to any that wished to live it.
That same opportunity they had has changed the world in many ways. Without the efforts of the first settlers America may still be just a mix of colonies amid a world that would've ultimatley been divided after the first World War without the growing superpower. Again, had the dream been dead or not existed a majority of the world would be under the thumb of Adolf Hitler had Germany lost the first war. While these are both great examples the best way to see what the American Dream has meant is to look how it has impacted the world as a whole belief-wise. The American Dream led to the rise of what is now the sole superpower and the main enforcer of peace in the world. Other nations will stand on thier soap boxes and claim we are terroristic, and that their governments are superior because they provide better health benefits and likewise but in truth where would those goverments be without the protection provided by the children of the American Dream? When Kuwait was invaded we helped, when France was conquered we aided in its liberation, if any nation in the world is threatened we strike. Truly, if the American Dream is dead why are so many sharing in it's splendor? Because it offers anyone who wishes to take the opportunity to do so.
Published by White Edward
I'm a country boy who likes to write and likes sports. View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentAC has a habit of cutting off my long-winded comments. Today the USA violated a UN Charter to invade Iraq because Iraq was about to switch to the Euro which was going to hurt the US economy in World Trade. US is largest world importer of oil and exports little of value except tobacco. The gov is trying to do away with US's tobacco industry. This is where the perception of the US as terrorists comes from, because of our greed for oil, rather than doing like, say Brazil and utilizing existing alternative sources of energy, we are killing innocent women and children. We have also had schools in the USA to train terrorists for other countries, although the names have been changed ever since "911". So, I would agree the "American Dream" has all but died.
My grandfather, I am told, did not intend to stay in the USA, but fell in love with and soon sent for his family. I also do not know how much they paid to become citizens. Someone told me yesterday it costs $30 or $40,000. That might mean that the tech workers that come here to work from China, could afford~after taxes and housing costs~to become a Naturalized citizen. Where I live the average income does not buy affordable housing. With rising gas prices, and the resultant inflation of any product that is delivered via transportation that uses gasoline products; increased property taxes; even Middle Class people are becoming unable to afford the American Dream of home ownership, "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage".
Times have changed. When my grandfather came to the USA there was no Income Tax, no Social Security tax, no State income or sales taxes. Today 1/4 or our gross pay is taxed and we pay sales taxes, Federal exicse taxes, taxes on landline telephone service (prior to the gov breaking up the AT&T monopoly, AT&T maintained outside wiring and such, so the gov did not have to raise taxes to pay for that care of telephone poles and such.)I do not know what year the gov revolked Homestead Laws, making any unowned land government property.
The inspiration and determination that supposedly are hallmarks of the American Dream were a result of the land grab and Manifest Destiny that inspired the determination to kill Indians, take their land, kill Mexicans, and take their land. This was no less dastardly an enterprise than the expansion of Hitler's Third Reich.
The American Dream is an imaginary figment of the shrinking middle-class. A few historical facts. Hitler would never have come to power without the humiliating terms of surrender imposed on Germany by the Allies after WWI. Hitler rode a wave of popular resentment and out of control inflation caused mostly by the Americans and English with the Treaty of Versailles. Thus after WWII, the Marshall Plan was enacted to prevent a similar occurrence.
The American Dream is materialistic at heart, a vacuous ideology of greed well-suited to the capitalist economy and warmongers.
Look at the stats, and you'll find this a country for the rich. Your co-worker is just that, a worker, and workers reasonably expect to be compensated fairly for their time.
American Dream as an american writing it is a lesson in materialism and greed. On a brighter side Inspiration and Determination