What Is the American Dream in 2015? There’s nothing dreamlike about how Americans perceive the American Dream. Nothing surreal, or vague, or involving harried white rabbits in waistcoats. The American Dream, we seem to feel, is a simple, connect-the-dots matter; it makes perfect sense. We have nothing against successful careers or wealth or fame, but far more of us believe that the American Dream is about giving our kids a better life. And two-thirds of us think that our lives are better than our parents’, which means the system works. There’s no mystery about how to achieve this American Dream: through education. Finally, for all the griping, we lean toward the view that the American Dream is more robust right now than at any time in the past. Main image: Photographs © D. Searching for the American Dream. This week the New York Times reported that only 64 percent of the public still believe in the American Dream, which they defined as a faith that “hard work could result in riches.”
But the reports of the death of the American Dream are premature. The Dream has evolved and changed over time just as the nation has changed. At each critical juncture as we have evolved from an agrarian, to an industrial, to a knowledge economy, how we define the American Dream has changed with us. The phrase itself is fairly new. In 1931, an historian named James Adams, who was in many ways the David McCullough of his time, wrote a book about the story of America. While the phrase is relatively new, the constellation of ideas that it represents, have a long history. The Declaration captured our noblest ideals and highest aspirations. Thomas Jefferson had a very clear idea of what constituted the American Dream. But the expansion of individual rights is only half the story. What Is the American Dream Today? Before looking at what the American Dream is today, we need to look at its roots.
Our Founding Fathers introduced the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue their idea of happiness was not self-indulgence, but a necessary driver of a prosperous society. They created a government to defend that right for everyone. The Declaration of Independence protects your opportunity to improve your life, no matter who you are.
It boldly proclaims: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. " Of course, at that time "everyone" only meant white property-owners. President Lyndon B. How the American Dream Changed Throughout U.S. history, the definition of happiness has changed as well. Is the American dream really dead? | Inequality. The United States has a long-held reputation for exceptional tolerance of income inequality, explained by its high levels of social mobility.
This combination underpins the American dream – initially conceived of by Thomas Jefferson as each citizen’s right to the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This dream is not about guaranteed outcomes, of course, but the pursuit of opportunities. The dream found a persona in the fictional characters of the 19th-century writer Horatio Alger Jr – in which young working-class protagonists go from from rags to riches (or at least become middle class) in part due to entrepreneurial spirit and hard work. Yet the opportunity to live the American dream is much less widely shared today than it was several decades ago.
Attitudes about inequality have also changed. In the meantime, the public discussion about inequality has completely by-passed a critical element of the American dream: luck. White despair, minority hope The American problem. ObamaCare and the American Dream. The American Dream. The American Dream? | THE ENGLISH CORNER. American Dream. The History of the American Dream. The American Dream is the ideal that the government should protect each person's opportunity to pursue their own idea of happiness. The Declaration of Independence protects this American Dream. It uses the familiar quote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. " The Declaration continued, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
" The Founding Fathers put into law the revolutionary idea that each person's desire to pursue happiness was not just self-indulgence. It was a part of what drives ambition and creativity. To the drafters of the Declaration, the American Dream could only thrive if it were not hindered by “taxation without representation”. The American Dream legally protects every American's right to achieve their potential. Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream Speech. The American Dream Project. Brought to you by Cole Haan and Happy Marshall’s American Dream Project. What is the American Dream? Is it still alive today? And if so, who for? Every day we are bombarded with bad news — about jobs, debt, climate change and the vanishing middle class. We worry about the things that divide us. But how often do we hear stories of the true spirit of everyday Americans?
It feels like the American Dream is still an open question. James Marshall explores this theme in his American Dream Project — a multi-part series documenting a cross country motorcycle trip from New York City to Los Angeles. James’ objective was simple: reverse the negative sentiment Americans and the media are (more often than not) associating with “America.” Watch the American Dream Project series here.
Courtney Martin: The new American Dream. The American'T Dream (The Purse Suit Of Happyness)||Spoken Word. The American Dream Film-Full Length.