Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

When I was young, back in the `60s, in the previous century, there was a cultural phrase: living the American Dream.

It meant certain things that everybody just sort of knew, without really thinking about it. There was the history of the colonies, the Revolutionary War, pioneers, and all kinds of American stuff. But nowadays, we don`t hear much about living the American Dream, unless it`s in relation to the problem of illegal immigrants.

So what does it mean? I guess the way I thought of it was that people who had nothing but an idea, the desire to work, and a sense of honor, could come here and build themselves up into greatness rivaling the European aristocracy. It meant that the common man could become uncommon---a great person---simply by exerting themselves and doing the right thing.

Is that what it still means? Is that what it means to you? I get the feeling that the American Dream, nowadays has more to do with getting a corporate job, making a 6-figure salary, having a fantastic credit rating, and living well beyond one`s means.

Has the American Dream changed to mean working for a corporation? Some would say that in the `50s (also a century ago), following WWII, many of the men who came home only wanted some peace and quiet. They created the suburban retreat, with watering lawns, barbeques, 2.5 kids, and a car in every garage. They just wanted a nice and pleasant life.

To bring all that about, though, meant often working one place for an entire career. The giant corporations came into play after the war, and the so-called military-industrial complex. We`d geared up during the war with all sorts of technical and machine manufacturing, so plenty of people had jobs in those corporations. And of course the auto industry was starting to take off.

And here we are, with a global ecomony on our doorstep. We have those same corporations shifting labor all around the world, not just the country. We have outsourcing, downsizing, too much consumer debt, the housing crunch, dot.com bust, economic bubbles bursting, and the threat of a North American Alliance.

Is that part of the American Dream? What about the age-old entrepreneurial spirit? What about the cottage industry, the hearty pioneers, and the "go west young man?" Does that connect with iPods and headsets, text-messaging, computer games, and $150 recreational footwear?

Living the American Dream, what does it mean....

Is there such a thing as THE American dream? I don`t think there is or ever was such a thing. America is too big, too varied for all to have the same dream, or even close to it. What is living your dream to a Bolivian from Latin America? What is living your dream to a Canadian from Anglo America? Do they share the same dream? clearly not, and yet, they are both Americans.

America, all of it. From Nome to Patagonia, from Easter Island to Greenland it has 37 nations, over 900 million people, four main languages and countless dialects. Can we all possibly have the same dream? I doubt it. Maybe someday the living standards all over America will be the same, but that day is still way too far off into the future for us all to have the same dream. So, I doubt that it can be narrowed in the manner which you propose "what is it?" other than saying that the American dream is a dream of freedom, of independence, to be all that we can.
To quote a great American
"La libertad del Nuevo Mundo es la esperanza del universo.  -Simon Bolivar"
"The freedom of the New World is the hope of the universe.  -Simon Bolivar"

Ah...Eli, my friend, you bring forth the problem of modern day deconstruction. :-) One way or another, in the first half of the 20th century, and I think before that, there was indeed an American Dream. The problem isn`t parsing the "The" of the issue, it`s whether or not we`ve lost a cultural touchstone.

America is a concept. Many people nowadays try to define it as a geographic area, or a grouping of States, ethnic divisions, economic divisions, or some other tangible concrete. And that`s what I wonder about. It`s like saying that Art doesn`t mean anything---it`s all relative and in the eye of the beholder.

As with any great concept---like a universal ideal---THE American Dream is, in my opinion, founded on the freedom of ownership, and the idea of starting a business and growing it into a huge money-maker. It`s the idea of entrepreneurship, Yankee know-how, and the companionship of a society that agrees on the fundamentals of what makes for a free society.

But I think we`re losing that, or we`ve outright lost it. Too many people focus on changing the question to "What`s YOUR American dream, and how come I should subscribe to that?" The result is that we end up split, divided, and fractionated.

So I`ll go so far as to rephrase the question: "What WAS the American Dream?"

No, really the question is "Who worries about the American Dream?"

It`s a nation of millions of people. There`s no way for us to have common dreams, other than the universal dreams of health and safety for our families.

The "American Dream" is not a concern of mine ... just my own dreams.

And wouldn`t "just my own dreams" bring us back to "Life Planning?"  So many people wander aimlessly down life`s path with no direction.  They get up, go to a job, come home, go to bed and start over the next day -- all for the sake of "retirement" which is what?  And that`s what life planning helps us with.  Figuring out what we want for our American Dream and how we get there, so that "retirement" doesn`t mean sit out `til you die.

Alright, I see that there`s some use in the term "The American Dream." In fact, for a very long time, a whole lot of people thought about the American Dream. Nobody "worried" about it, they looked toward it as a dream---a hope for a better life.

What this comes down to is that prior to the 1930s, Americans in general had a certain pride of self-reliance. That was the foundation of the American Dream. It meant that anyone could succeed, based on their own efforts. People were proud of their work, their product, and the quality of their care about that work.

It seems to me that nowadays, following the introduction of "interest groups," most people agree with Nikole, and don`t care about an American Dream. They find themselves in America, and sort of assume that everyone in the world has the freedom to succeed on their own efforts.

Following the September 11 attack, for a little while, ALL of America became unified in an emotional concept of America. Suddenly life was serious. It wasn`t some abstract, theoretical discussion for academics. "We" as a nation of people, came face-to-face with the Radical Islam Dream, which is to demolish America and *all it stands for.*

And that`s the point of this: What do we "stand for?" What is it that`s under attack when outside interest lump together all of America? Do you think the terrorists of the world stop to separate out one person`s dream from another persons?

What about those people who risk their lives to come to this country, legally or not. Do they figure they have their own personal dream, and America just happens to be a handy place to give it a shot?

:-) You meant to say "ALL of the US became..." America is a continent not a nation, the US never named itself, the name of the US of A is a designation. We often times like in this case use the term America when referring to the US and Americans when speaking of US citizens. The rest of America refers to US citizens as Estadodunidenses (United Statesians in English) they too refer to themselves as Americans much in the same way that a German and a Spaniard refer to themselves as Europeans.

America aka "The New World" is a continent with 37 nations, over 900 million people, four languages and countless dialects, not the US of A. The US is only one of those 37 nations. It used to be that Anglo America and Latin America both parts of America would seldom interact because of the language barrier, and so, in the US the term America was used used to denote the US of A but in the flat world brought about over the last couple of decades that is no longer the case, the rest of America must be acknowledged. The American dream is what all Americans ever dreamed off, fought for and worked towards the freedom to live life to the fullest.

The American revolution started with the US war of independence and ended when the Spaniards were finally defeated in 1825 putting an end to the American war against European colonial powers.

Alright, so what we seem to be saying is that there`s really no "America" as a concept. It`s just a hodgepodge of individuals trying to get what they want, live their life, and so forth. It`s not really a country or an idea representing anything in particular, just a geographic area.

That`s sad, to me, coming from an interest in history and seeing how not so long ago people thought of themselves as Americans, not US citizens. On the other hand, there do seem to be a statistically significant number of people who continue to hold that America is a country, a nation, and that as a culture, it holds an American Dream.