The American dream is the general belief that American Citizens all have an equal opportunity to succeed socially and economically, regardless of any predating circumstances. This idea has been accepted as possible by the majority of citizens in this country. This “dream” cannot be true, as there are multiple discriminations in this country, which make it impossible for everyone to have the same chance to succeed. Biases against racial minorities, women, and citizens from lower social classes are examples of just a few reasons that everyone does not have the same chance to succeed in our current economic and social system in America, resulting in unequal chances to achieve “the American Dream.”
American ideologies of success, rooted in ideals represented by the American Dream, have long captivated people of the United States with a hypnotic power. The promise of the American Dream, in which even the poorest Americans can achieve prosperity and success through persistence and hard work, has drawn all sorts of people to its warmth, generating a multicultural “melting pot” in the U.S. that boasts of diversity and tolerance. The American Dream itself resonates from the nation’s declaration that “all men are created equal” and affirms its claim to be a land of inclusion and nondiscriminatory opportunity. Further evidenced by glorified narratives of rags-to-riches success, the American Dream has flourished in the hearts of many Americans who embrace its emotional appeal, and over time, it has been woven into the social fabric of the United States national imaginary with unwavering patriotism. Its ideals, which reside at the core of American identity, have undoubtedly played an important role in guiding American political evolution and development. Yet while the American Dream is flaunted as a source of national cohesion and pride, for many it is no more than an empty and elusive fantasy hovering over a broken land. Instead of finding refuge in the American Dream’s sacred promises, many Americans have begun to contest its presence in the national imaginary as a divisive and unjust force.
... the American Dream goes, it will ALWAYS be there for most American citizens. However, whether or not we can achieve the American Dream will be the true battle.
In order to avoid confusion the American Dream should be analyzed and defined. A recent poll done by Forbes magazine showed that twenty percent of America...
American Dream is the dream of people in which everyone’s hopes for the freedom, equality and opportunity commonly held to everyone according to their ability or performance. American Dream is not only the dream but also hope of everyone who are poor, so called lower class and who struggle for their basic needs for the better and fuller and richer life with opportunity according to their skills, performance, success and capability in spite of the unexpected situation of where they born and what class they were form. American dream is not a dream but a reality to realize to live life to fullest and achieve all within and beyond with sheer knowledge, talent and all our hard work, no racism, no favoritism, and if not at all a little hindrance
Considered “The Great Recession,” the time period between December of 2007 and June 2009 was hard for almost every American. Once $8 trillion in housing money was lost, those who once provided for themselves could no longer do so. The U.S. labor market lost 8.4 million jobs (or 6.1% of all payroll employment) in 2008 and 2009. When compared to the recession in 1981, the Economic Policy Institute stated, “Job loss was 3.1%, or only about half as severe.” A year and four months after the recession was supposedly over, the economy was still dealing with 5.4% less jobs than it did before the recession even started.
The article Keeping The Dream Alive by John Meacham is addressed to people who feel the American dream has died. The author compares historical events and today’s issues to encourage the reader that a simple call to action can revive the dream. Towards the end of the passage he quotes John Adams’ proclamation, “’If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us… it will, at the bottom, depend on the people themselves.” Assuming the reader is waiting on the government to provide a solution, Meacham presents ideas that encourage the readers to make the change themselves. The arrangement of historical feats and beliefs persuade the readers that the future of the American dream is in their hands.
Today we live in a country that is full of struggles and no hope. People today have goals to achieve here in america. They always look into having great jobs and an unlimited amount of opportunities, but many people today fail to achieve here in the US such as people who aspire to become actors, athletes or artist.“The rich must be blind because they didn’t see the poor there” (Lupe Fiasco). This quote from a song explains that the american dream doesn’t exist. It emphasizes that the rich only care for themselves. Therefore, the american dream is dead because of class inequality, discrimination, and unemployment.
Due to continuous changes in the concept of the American Dream throughout its prolonged existence, it is difficult to have one sole definition. The American Dream has always been a major concept that stems off of many ideas such as liberty, prosperity, equality, and opportunity, which still exists, to some degree, in our vision of the Dream today. America has always been known as the “land of opportunity” and has always emphasized the importance of future generations surpassing the success of their previous ones. But just because our present concept of the Dream may seem to overlap past concepts, it does not mean the Dream has remained what it was in the past. Actually, it is an entirely new image, morphed by social, political, and economic issues. What has it become? A society corrupted by materialism and deteriorated by the failing economy, leaving younger Americans hopeless and older Americans fearful of America’s future. It’s alarming that Americans are constantly taking their rights and freedom for granted, always wanting more than they can get– and quite honestly, what they can get is not even that much to begin with. As our economy collapses into chaotic hardships and our desires override our moral obligations, the American Dream has ultimately become the American Nightmare.
Since being founded, America became a capitalist society. Being a capitalist society obtains luxurious benefits and rather harsh consequences if gone bad. In a capitalist society people must buy products and spend money to keep the economy balanced, but once those people stop spending money, the economy goes off balance and the nation enters a recession. Once a recession drastically takes a downturn, the nation enters what is known as a depression. In 2008 America entered a recession and its consequences were severe enough for some people, such as President Barack Obama, to compare the recent crisis to the world’s darkest economic depression in history, the Great Depression. Although the Great Depression and the Great Recession of 2008 hold similarities and differences between the stock market and government spending, political issues, lifestyle changes, and wealth distribution, the Great Depression proved far more detrimental consequences than the Recession.