Ideally the American Dream was the white picket fenced house, with 2.5 children and the dad at work and t he mom home with the kids, cleaver-style. However, the more modern version of the American dream would put all the "June Cleaver" like people in their grave with shock. I agree with George Carlin in the statement of "to believe in the American Dream, you would have to be asleep." It's no wonder that with the economy the way it is today and the attitudes of people not being any better, the American Dream seems more like a t hing of the past. If asked do corporations use this concept to force us into submission in some way? My answer would be subconsiously yes. People would like to believe the world spins around on lollipops and gumdrops, but reality is the almighty dollar is what everyone seems to be chasing out of necessity. Acknowledging this fact, I do believe corporations take advantage at any cost to increase their share of money. I do not thing this so called dream would bind us together, if anything I think it has pulled us apart and kept us fighting like a dog-eat-dog environment.
I guess your right, I wasn't really thinking about it in a way that could be pulling us apart but it's a good point.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. When the house with the picket fence wasn't good enough because the neighbor's house was better, the American Dream started down the path to disappearance. This recession, while TERRIBLE for individual people, will be good for the country as a whole. People are starting to learn to live within their means again, to rely less on credit, to only buy things they can afford, and DEMANDING THEIR GOVERNMENT DO THE SAME. People have been maintaining their cars, rather than trading them in before they're paid off for the nicer ones, redecorating their house rather than moving to a new one- The Joneses everyone's keeping up with are just as broke as they are. I think we're going to have a return to the American Dream of yore- health, family, love, security. Bigger savings accounts and smaller credit accounts. The motto in our house is, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!"
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