The American Dream

          We find ourselves in what history will probably call The Great Recession of 2008.  It has been compared to The Great Depression of 1929.  Although I’m not quite old enough to remember the details, it seems to be the worst recession since the 1970’s.  A lot of people have lost a lot of money and many people are afraid of losing their jobs and medical benefits, if they haven’t lost them already.  This does not sound like the American Dream.  But what is the American Dream?  Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is the answer you’ll hear most often, but what does it really mean?  To most people it is a materialistic dream, a house, a car, a wife and 2.5 children.  To some it is a dream of financial security, a good job with good benefits.  And eventually most people want to retire and live a life of leisure.  Well wouldn’t we all?  For some, they believe that this is an inalienable right that they should receive for just showing up and are disappointed when they don’t get it.  Some people work very hard and play by the rules and never achieve it.  In this capitalistic society, some people are never satisfied.  They could have a billion dollars and want a billion more.

          James Truslow Adams, who coined the phrase “American Dream” in his 1931 book Epic of America, wrote:

 “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” … “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

 Boiled down, it reminds me of the Army slogan, “Be all that you can be”.  But more than that, also that nothing should stand in your way of being all that you can be.  Sure in capitalism, competition means that one person will step over another to get ahead, but there should be no road blocks in place that prevents any man from achieving his goals.  Everyone should be afforded the same opportunity and no advantage should be given to some that is not given to all.

          That doesn’t seem to be the case in our current economic situation.  When the banks went bust over sub-prime loans they turned to the government for a $700 billion bailout.  These banks were participating in shady business practices and when it blew up in their faces, they were bailed out by the government with our tax dollars.  This is definitely an advantage not afforded to me.  If I write a check for one penny over the balance of my checking account, I am charged a $25 bounced check fee.  I had to look up the amount of the fee because I haven’t bounced a check in years, and yet the banks need $700 billion of our tax money or the country will plunge into a depression?  This is the type of practices that has made many Americans mad, as Jesse Richard writes in his article Bail out the Citizens, Not the Corporations!:

 We, the people, have had to save our pennies and plan for our retirement for one reason and one reason alone... because the system at hand forces us to provide for our own basic security. I am talking about the security of knowing that we will always have a place to live, food to eat and medical help should we need it. So what have we had to do to make sure that we provide security for ourselves? We have had to invest for the future. Well guess what... the bastards in government have not only created a situation where your investments are not secure but they legally protect and financially provide for the people who are stealing your money or making your investments worthless!

 These banks and corporations have grown so big, and that’s not a bad thing, more power to ya!  If you have become wealthy because whatever you have done in life has led you there as long you didn’t kill someone, good on ya!  But if your business fails, then hey that’s capitalism, survival of the fittest.  When the corporations become so large that if they fail it will send the nation into a depression, something doesn’t seem right.  I’m not even convinced that we would have gone into a depression if the big banks wouldn’t have been bailed out.  As they file for bankruptcy they would have had to sell off their assets, most of which were the overrated sub prime mortgages which the smaller banks that were not in trouble could have bought up at a low price, a price that would have been closer to what they were really worth, and the small banks would grow into larger banks.  Ah, I love the smell of capitalism in the morning.

          With the supposed threat of another Great Depression averted, people in America are picking up the pieces, picking themselves up, and trying to make ends meet.  If the American Dream is still alive, then Americans will find a way to make it happen, through hard work and entrepreneurship.  I think if any good comes out of this recession it will be a kick start of entrepreneurship in America.  A reboot of the American Dream as the middle class is knocked down.  When you’re at the bottom, there is nowhere to go but up.