Smiley, Bolton, Proctor 1

Brett Smiley, Chloe Bolton, and Alex Proctor

Ms. Wolverton
English 1010
3 January 2013
An Americans Dream
What does the average American worry about? Are they worried and frightened by
overwhelming amounts of debt? Losing a family member? Or perhaps a surgery a person must
have to sustain living? In other words, these topics, and many more, make up what we call the
American Dream. The American Dream can be defined as the traditional social ideals of the
United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. A vast majority of arguments
can be addressed when studying these three topics. There are currently many people that think
the American Dream is no longer a way of life as envisioned fifty years ago. Today, individuals
will gladly admit that in order for the American Dream to come back, people need to be willing
to work for it.
Equality is a way to view others based on social status, gender, and financial situations.
Through social equality, Americans pose judgments based on tangible objects such as a nice car
or house and who one person socializes with. Hence the name; social status. Gender focuses
more on the idea of male and female equality. Men would provide anything and everything that a
woman needed to live. Dating back to the era of Susan B. Anthony (1850-1900s), she, and many
others, fought so that women could vote. Anthony was imprisoned for such actions against the
U.S. Congress, petitioning the write for women to be able to vote. She went on hunger strikes
while she was held captive and would not eat for long periods of time, leading numerous people
to attempt to force feed her in order to keep her alive. Keep in mind that there were other women

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that agreed with Anthony on this issue, but Anthony was the example that other women idolized.
Women were considered far less superior to men in nearly every way as society viewed them.
Then again, only men were the judges of this issue so their opinions were completely biased.
The American Dream, in a sense, is the way that todays American civilization lives day
in and day out. This dream has always been the corner stone of our society and the future of our
nation. It has, and always will be, a work in progress. It is not something that you can wake up to
every morning. Any job requires work. Everyone knows that. The American Dream requires
large amounts of care in order to fulfill a working role in the vision of the future. To maintain a
healthy living environment, citizens strive to focus on the living styles of their past ancestors
where the American Dream was the way of life. Of course, Americans want the next big thing.
They want to bring the American Dream with them while pushing to improve society.
America used to be a thrifty nation; a nation full of potential prosperity. Every corner
provided new opportunities with different ways to achieve them. Families were more connected
as a whole than they are today. These days, families tend to spend way more than they make.
They feel like they need to seem bigger and better than their neighbor. Which often includes
overspending in areas of their lives they may not need to; such as the type of house they live in,
the kind of car they drive, the clothes they wear, the list goes on and on. This peer pressure
frequently throws people into debt. When individuals fall victim to debt they can commonly
plunge into denial. Debt and denial have lead people to think that laziness is the answer, if they
cut back on their work to have more free time their debt and taxes will reduce or eventually
vanish. Unfortunately, they are incorrect.
The final part of the American Dream we will discuss in this essay is democracy. This
affects both topics discussed in that without democracy, both would cease to exist. There is a

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semblance of material prosperity and equality with other forms of government but democracy is
the only true way to obtain both. The Greek root dem/demo literally means people and cracy
means to govern so the definition of democracy is ruled by the people. Democracy in relation to
the American Dream can be separated into two parts: the first part being how people are affected
by democracy and how they act underneath it. The second part is how the government gives to
that American Dream. When people look at themselves in the present or even in the future they
have a certain vision of what they want other people to observe them as. If a government, or in
our case, the American government cannot provide for that dream then they only feel the
hardships of the times and they will not look anywhere else to stimulate the economy. The
government has a duty to give back to its people when it already takes so much away in the form
of taxes and protection and numerous other subjects. Once a government cannot provide the
common necessities of man then the dream all people live with has disappeared. The people and
government coincide in a mutual push-pull relationship. Government might push for higher
taxes, but people are always pulling for fewer taxes. The reality about this concept is that the
common man honestly does not have much of a say in the day to day workings of our
government. The only times that people have a say in the government is every few years when
they get to vote on how to run the government and even then theres multiple levels of voting to
protect the common man from receiving too much power and all the power is still in the hands of
the elite.
The major debates in the large topic of the American Dream begin at whether or not the
American Dream exists. Scholars have long debated the fact that the American Dream is just an
idea thrown out by shrewd politicians trying to win over the people of this country. There is not a
set barrier in which one says that person has definitely achieved the American Dream. The

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argument against that is the fact that everyone who comes to America expects great things and
tries to achieve what they believe is every Americans dream, when in reality; most of them are
in the same circumstance, just scraping to get by.
The debates can be separated into subtopics by the topics of the American Dream
mentioned earlier, the first being equality. The debate surrounding this topic is how the American
Dream makes everyone equal. The American Dream that James Truslow Adams was assuming
that the couple was white and because of the social norms during his time, he also assumed that
the woman was not a working woman and men were clearly above the woman. This is racist and
sexist in our time and nowadays we do not pass judgment of any kind.
The second major sub-debate that is included in the American Dream is the democracy
debate. How do you create a perfect government for the people without ruling over chaos? As
mentioned before government is a delicate thing and there is a constant push and pull between
the power of the government and the power of the people. The American Dream consists of
perfect government for a perfect people but we have not found that balance yet. We see this
everyday because we live in a hard time for everyone and it has not reached utopia status. You
can argue for a stronger government but that takes away the rights of the people. Another
argument is give people more power but then you forfeit the protection that the government gives
the individual.
The last but not least sub topic in the debate about the American Dream is material
prosperity. This is what was envisioned by the elite politicians and the people that listened to
them back in the day. As a nation we have become the very people we set out to protect ourselves
against. We tried to protect our individual selves from hoarders, greedy people, and thieves but
everyone is doing everything they can to survive in this tough world so we cannot understand

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material prosperity without first looking at each person we have inside ourselves and asking the
question, what do I participate in to make more money? This will show if you can have an
opinion on the subject or not. The material prosperity debate is if you can judge someone on how
much money they possess and therefore that person has achieved the American Dream. Some
might argue that people rising from the bottom have more of a right for that money because they
started with nothing. Others point out that even when you are born with it you can still put it to
good use.
The more that people debate these major points, smaller ones come to our attention. A
couple of questions to ask are these: why do people still believe in the American Dream? Can
one obtain the American Dream if you are already wealthy? Why do scholars write about the
American Dream when a large number of them are wealthy? Finally, the main question, does
wealth imply you have achieved the American Dream?
These questions ask some remedial things and most of them can be answered with this:
wealth does not mean you have achieved the American Dream, it merely means that you have
achieved a part of it. You still have to live in a place where democracy is strong and alive and
you have your rights as an American citizen. Another part of the American Dream is equality and
if you are just wealthy that does not mean that you have achieved equal status to your peers.
The United States has always had some form of a dream. At first, people would emigrate
for religious freedom and to break away from British rule. This is a form of equality previously
discussed in the earlier paragraphs. Over the years, slavery grew in large amounts and it strongly
threatened the African-American race. This is a large reason as to why the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution were adopted; to change the paradigm that men are superior

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and that all men should, and ought to be created equal. James Truslow Adams complicates
matters further in an article entitled, The American Dream, when he writes:
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 (Adams).
Basically, Adams is saying that men should not be completely in charge of all decisions in a
given situation. This boils down to the equality factor. Much like being in a relationship for a
long period of time, there are a lot of decisions that are to be made in order to get anywhere with
the other person. Keep in mind; this is only one form of social equality. There are many other
forms to follow and understand. To go along with this simple equality topic, human beings need
to be rewarded for their actions in different ways. This, in a sense, completely negates the idea of
all men are created equal, but you cannot reward a dog for urinating in the living room.
Everyone knows that that should be a complete negative consequence. In an article entitled,
Equal Opportunities, Equal Results, Social Hierarchy, William Darity Jr. discusses the
importance of equality when he says:
Schaar, however, introduced the radical democratic concept of equality to provide a
broader concept then a solely economic notion. Schaar was challenging the entire
constellation of beliefs that assert that human beings must be rewarded differentially on
both a pecuniary and non-pecuniary basis. Income and wealth differences are only one
face of the multifarious ways in which human beings are stratified across a society.
Additionally, there are at least differences in status and authority arising out of both
inherited and achieved differences among individuals that disturbed Schaar at least as

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much as the economic differences. Schaars vision is revolutionary in the sense that it is
genuinely anti-hierarchical. Rather than merely making the case for greater absolute
equality on all dimensions, complete equality should be the social reference point and any
departures from it must be justified (Darity).
By stating this, Darity is saying that humans all have different interests and must be rewarded in
different ways. This is still being treated equal, but just being treated equal in a diverse form.
Both of these quotes are similar in the form that they encourage equality among all humans in
diverse customs.
The next topic we are covering is the issue of Democracy. The Declaration of
Independence states,
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
(Hancock).
Our founding fathers are pointing out the age-old adage that people should give consent to be
governed. They are all given certain rights and a government should add to these rights, not take
them away. This goes into the first part of democracy which is how the government helps their
citizens to obtain the American Dream. The American Dream should be given to every citizen
and once people do not have hope for a better future or even a better present the government has
failed. In todays society, the government has not been providing the help that it should. A fact
proving this is in a 2009 New York Times survey, stating that seventy-two percent still believed it
was possible to start poor, work hard, and become rich in America. (Seelye, 2009). This is

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pointing out that people still believe that you can achieve the American Dream. In the same
study, the surveyors asked questions on what constituted as being successful, with most people
saying that you need a steady job, a place of residence, a no stress retirement, and etc. Once you
have these things you are classified as having achieved the American Dream.
The second part of American democracy in this essay is how the people act underneath
democracy to help themselves achieve that American Dream. In his article The American
Dream: Dead, Alive, or On Hold? Brandon King states,
The American Dream will continue to exist as part of the American psyche, not
artificially stimulated by government regulations to change income distribution. If the
Great Recession has taught us anything, it is that planning for the future by saving more
and enacting policies that sustain economic growth are what will keep the American
Dream alive (578).
In other words, King believes that the government cannot control the people, but people have the
freedom to choose whether or not the government can succeed. The people that are seen as
successful have either all worked for it or they were born into someone elses hard work. The
American Dream still exists today because of the small fact that people still hope that if they
work hard they will achieve the latter, in which they work hard for everything they own and they
are now classified as successful.
The final issue dealing with the American Dream is material prosperity. There are many
aspects of material prosperity. One main idea is downshifting and overspending. In Juliet B.
Schors book, The Overspent American, she discusses the different ideas of material prosperity
that exists throughout America. Many people spend more than they make or very close to it in an
effort to make themselves seem more prosperous. However, Schor warns her readers that even

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though it may seem wonderful at first, this feeling only lasts so long. It could very easily throw
ones life dangerously out of balance. Schor states, By the mid-nineties, America was
decidedly anxious. Many household felt pessimistic, deprived, or stuck, apparently more
concerned with what they could not afford that with what they already had (Overspent
American). In other words, Americans are becoming increasingly worried about what others
think of them. They are just trying to fit in with the in crowd. Schor observes through a Merck
Family Fund focus-group participant that the typical American Dream is not just the white picket
fence anymore, it is expanding. This has led to an upscale in convenience needs and competition
and a downshift in working hours. Schor explains,
Downshifters are opting out of excessive consumerism.their jobs were leaving them
drained, depressed, or wondering what life is all about. Now they may not have as much
money but they are spending ever day answering that all important question. And they are
much happier.But for virtually all of them, these changes are worth it (Overspent
American).
Schors point is that as long as people are happy with their lives and okay with sacrificing work
and money for more free time, their American Dream is worth it.
Another important issue is debt. Lauren Weber who wrote In Cheap We Trust, explains
this well. Weber claims that America used to be mainly thrifty but with the rise in
industrialization, it gave Americans a chance to make their lives easier; which they willingly
took advantage of. According to Weber,
Thrift was determined by necessity in the early days of the republic.People made do
with what they had until the stuff fell apart or was used up.But when

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industrializationbrought Americans opportunities to make their lives easier and more

comfortablethey took advantage of them (In Cheap We Trust).
Weber insists that every person should keep their lives in moderation. Weber believes that people
do not need to be completely cheap; they just need to be aware of their spending. Cheapness
doesnt necessarily require abstinence and austerity simply a thoughtfulness and care about
how (they) live.It means rejecting the belief that spending money is the route to feeling good
about (themselves) (In Cheap We Trust). Basically, Weber is warning that there are those
who hit both extremes and people need to recognize the importance of moderation.
To follow up on the three topics of the American Dream; equality, democracy, and
material prosperity, there is a quote from Bob Herberts article Hiding from Reality. In it, Herbert
states, America will never get its act together until we recognize how much trouble were really
in, and how much effort and shared sacrifice is needed to stop the decline. Only then will we be
able to begin the resuscitating the dream (567). By stating this, Herbert addresses the need for
America to strive for excellence and leave behind the lazy factor that so many Americans deal
with on a daily basis. By Herberts definition; only then will America be able to get its act
together and become a nation full of what citizens once called The American Dream.

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Works Cited
Adams, James Truslow. The Epic of America. New Brunswick, NJ: Boston, Little, Brown, and,
1931. 404. The American Dream. The Center for a New American Dream More of What
Matters. Web. 07 Jan. 2013.
Darity, William Jr. "Equal Opportunity, Equal Results, and Social Hierarchy." EBSCO. Blackwell
Publishing, Summer 1987. Web. 18 Dec. 2012.
Hancock, John, Et Al. "The Declaration of Independence: A Transciption." U.S. NARA. United
States Archives, N.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
Herbert, Bob. Hiding From Reality. They Say, I Say. By Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and
Russel Durst. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 564-67. Print.
K., Seelye. "What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession?" New York Times 7 May
2009: N. Pag. http://www.nytimes.com/. Web. 7 Jan. 2013.
King, Brandon. The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold? They Say, I Say. By Gerald
Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 572-78.
Print.
Schor, Juliet B. "The Overspent American." The New York Times [New York] 1998: n. pag. Web.
14 Dec. 2012.
Weber, Lauren. "In Cheap We Trust." National Public Radio. (2009). Web. 16 Dec 2012