It is also everyone's favorite "rags to riches" story. If you just work hard enough you can be anything you want to be. Judging by the disappearance of the middle class and the enrichment of the very few at the top, it looks like Americans are just terribly lazy. They just simply _choose_ not to work hard enough. No fucking wonder they can't relax during their 3 week vacation. They feel like the should have accomplished a lot more given their 10 hour days + only 3 week vacation but there is still no result. So obviously they haven't worked hard enough, so while they are at the beach with the family, perhaps they should just check their work email or call the office to see how things are going there. If they work _just_ a little harder they, might get that white picket fence, 2 care garage, kids' college fund will be full and maybe, just maybe, the bosses at the end of the year will spare a couple thousand as "generous" reward for the hard work.
All the sarcasm aside. The root of the problem is horrible labor laws in US + laws protecting corporations. Everything is geared to please the corporations not the individuals. No mandated vacations, no mandated 2 week+ termination notices, no public health insurance, inflated college tuition, expensive over-inflated mortgages, while the culture keeps telling us that we can achieve the "American Dream" if we just work hard enough.
Also "American Dream" is one of the greatest propaganda motifs. Any candidate can apply those 2 words to any agenda they want and it will be swallowed hole, no questions asked, because it evokes such strong, warm, fuzzy emotions.
Good post. I hope you don't get down voted into oblivion for it. People need to realize how bad the labor laws actually are because I suspect it's going to get a lot worse if the people don't wake up on this.
The "American Dream" is not white picket fences, 2 and a half children and a dog. It can be, but that is not the only thing it is.
The idea is simple- you can be anything, do anything, achieve anything. You apparently see it manifest most often in the form of the desire to elevate your family for your children- pull your family out of the lower classes and solidly into the middle class so that your children have it easier.
Put succiently; it is the possibility of everything that is impossible in a caste/class system.
(Not that I believe it exists in all it's shining glory etc, but before you criticize it make sure you understand it)
While you are absolutely right, there's no denying that there is intense societal pressure against making anything other than that your "American Dream." Ugh.
Everyone I know seems to think I'm crazy for not chasing after some promotion so that I can buy a bigger house, a better car, find a spouse, etc. I have the freedom to choose otherwise, but not the freedom to not be ridiculed for it.
If you listen to actual people, however, I can almost guarantee you that you'll be able to find someone who shares your quirks. You might be separated by 3000 miles and have to limit your interactions to the Internet, but there's somebody out there. If your American dream is to write Battlestar Galactica fanfiction, well, there's a fandom for you. If it's to play in a garage band at night and live the struggling rock star life, there's a group waiting for you (you might have to move to a city, though). If it's to work odd jobs during the weekends so you can write the next great American musical, that's possible too (thank you, Jonathan Larson). Heck, if you want to live in a log cabin in Montana, you can do that too.
You can choose your friends, but you generally can't change your friends. Pick wisely. :-)
* Universal and free healthcare * Free education (all of it)
There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
(or healthcare, or education, or water, or garbage collection, or roads, ...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_aint_no_such_thing_as_a_f...
So many choices in the world, it's easy to become overloaded and fall back on a path of least resistance. Especially if such a path harkens back to a view of some "golden age"