A question: What constitutes "The American Dream" to you?

Trying to develop a strategy/theory.


Your input is greatly appreciated. :think:

And more importantly, say anything I want without fear that I can't say something.

Oh yeah, and that freedom should apply everywhere else, too, and not be limited by any superficialities like gender, race, who I love, whatever.

My clients run the gamut from millionaires to those on the earned income credit.

That said, they are 100% (so far) democrats if you can imagine the odds!

They want people first and the money grubbing gang of pirates out of government.

The millionaire clients I have say "if the average guy doesn't have money in his pocket, businesses that depend on them for business don't have a chance".

They all want this job exporting business stopped, pensions strengthened and big business to stop cutting everyone's throats, especially the employees.

A family of four being able to have a middle-class lifestyle on a single salary - two kids going to college, two cars, a house - you know, what one could do on a median salary in 1970.

owning a home, having a job you enjoy, and that pays enough that you don't have to panic before every payday, and being able to enjoy your life without anyone interfering.

A healthy economy that is healthy for ALL. Honoring our past while not being stuck in it. Having a world class educational system. Believing in investing in the public sphere. Being capable and motivated to solve problems like global warming instead of pretending such problems don't exist. Separation of church and state. Equality of opportunity.

of utilities, coops to make the necessities more affordable, a revolution in fuel technologies and others that will free man from an entire lifetime of 7 to 5, 8 to 5 or 9 to 5. Jules Verne was a seer. Check the vid.

I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable.”

– Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island (1874)

Oh wait... that's my dream job.:+

being rewarded for hard work.

Being treated fairly.

Having a chance to have wrongs addressed.

Being safe at home and abroad.

Taking care of the sick, poor and elderly.

I think that about sums it up.

wrong place.

It is appreciated. :kick:

My wife and I are both retired. We're far from rich, but we have a nice house on 3 acres of woods and meadow, 2 cats, relatively good health, no bills, money enough to indulge our love for books.

I've lived in/visited other countries and could probably be just as content in most of them. And, most of the governments in them are just as, or more, democratic and free as this one.

My dream "for" America is that it some day come to it's senses and join the community of nations as just another member without feeling the necessity of running the show as "Number One".

But, I shucked any notion of "patriotism" after My Lai and Kent State.

no holds barred.

And by "shove" I mean flaunt, not share. ;-) Not my dream, but this is most American's attitudes.

very hard to do. That would happen ONLY if your family is rich.

I won't feel bad flaunting my wealth specially if it was the product of hard work. Nothing wrong with that. I would not expect anything given for free, specially if I have the will to work for it.

but partially serious. My most recent joke regarding the american dream is that all that's left of it is being able to still screw in a car.

Reminds me a little of the Dave Chapelle line: "If a man could fuck a woman in a cardboard box, he wouldn't need to buy a house."

To me, the "American dream" that I grew up with was working 40-60 hours a week, and being able to afford decent housing, food, medical care, and a relatively happy, stable life. Call me a commie.

With appologies to T. Jefferson for changing a few of his words.


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed from birth with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

And then what needs to be done to acheive this, directly from the text:

"- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

This to me has always summed up the "American Dream". Not the material things, but the true freedoms, and chance of new beginnings. Alas, the current regime has destroyed the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Dream.

:kick: