Miles Orozco
Molly Fenn
English 3
9 December 2014
The Two Different American Dreams
The American Dream is an idea brought up frequently by both sides of the American politics. It seems the common argument is whether the American Dream is achievable or not. The Left and the Right do not agree on much of anything these days, it is fascinating then, that across the ideological spectrum, everyone agrees that the American Dream is under threat of some kind. Both liberals and conservatives agree that the core of the American Dream is the middle class, which has made America the most hopeful and dynamic country on this planet. It is agreed that the middle class is an essential part of the American Dream, a class one would need to obtain, or pass through to get to riches, or to be economically stable. However, that’s about where the similarities end. Given this ideological divide between parties, it should come as no surprise when we say “American Dream”, we mean two entirely different things.
Beginning with the left side, by far the most outspoken, believe the American Dream is all about equal opportunity and as stated by Heather Digby Parton in an article posted on Alternet “(The American Dream is) enough opportunity and security to live a decent life and make it possible for your kids to succeed” (1). It is largely agreed amongst the majority of the left that the American Dream, as explained by Parton, is no longer achievable. The left claim there is a lack of opportunity and security with the income inequality. They argue that without a strong middle class, or having too much of an income inequality can cause the middle class to diminish, thusly making it exponentially more and more challenging to achieve the American Dream. This causes the gap to widen between the middle and upper classes, making it very difficult, if not impossible to be financially stable and secure enough to promote your child's success. The left claim that the dream involves exhortation to work hard and persevere if you fail. This has given way to calls for greater government involvement in ensuring that all rise in the first place. They fulminate against the top 1%, claiming too much money is going to the wealthiest, and attempt to level the playing field by making equal opportunity, saying that many people who try and play by the rules find that they cannot climb into the middle class—or stay there for that matter.
The conservative party objects, as David Azerrad says, “Those who focus on income inequality have embraced a very different American Dream from the one that is familiar to most Americans. They still use the traditional language of opportunity, but their new dream has very little in common with the real American Dream… [which is] about hard work and the opportunities created by a free economy”(2). The American Dream Azerrad is referring to is more focused on an individual and his effort to rise and help those around him do the same. However, even with equal opportunity unequal results are a natural outcome. The right says the left is misguided in their focus on income inequality; their reasoning being that Medicaid, Medicare, taxes, etcetera haven't been accounted for, and when that all is factored in the gap is not as pronounced as some measurements would show. They say the real threat to the American Dream is a failing education system that is denying the fundamental skills for moving ahead in life. With a college education becoming ever more critical to move up the income ladder, even as it has also become less affordable and the earning power of a college degree has stagnated, making it more and more essential to have a college degree building significant wealth assets for retirement or to help the next generation remain. Many households have increasingly gargantuan debts, encouraged by banks to “achieve” the American Dream
If these two parties could, by miracle, end up in the same room, and take time out of their arguing to come to a conclusion, a compromise, then we can start working together to better this country, instead of spending all our money and time on campaigning and trying to one-up your opponent. I strongly agree with the Right concerning education, our current education system is broken and needs to be overhauled and the colleges are becoming a necessity as well as increasingly unaffordable. The next step would be to rethink all of the Medicare, Medicaid, and all these assistances given to the American people. If we can find a way to consolidate and get rid of some of these programs, then huge amounts of money can be saved while not completely destroying anything our predecessors have done for us.
Seeing these two stark differences in ideologies should lend some more understanding into why the parties disagree, and their ideas behind it. This is very well put by Rea S. Hederman, Jr. “The American Dream is an expression of the American mind. It grows out of our principles and defines us as a nation. People the world over know that America is the land of opportunity. The stakes are too high—the cause is too dear to us—for us to let the American Dream slip away.”(2) As we are reminded, the American Dream is still a part of the ideals of America, we must stop ridiculously arguing with each other and work together and come to a compromise of how we can best fix this American Dream, it is essential for the longevity of the America we all love and grew up with.
Works Cited
Azerrada, David, and Rea 0. "Defending the Dream: Why Income Inequality Doesn't Threaten Opportunity." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
Parton, Heather D. ""American Dream" Is Now a Myth: How Bad Policies and Worse Ideology Ruined Us." Alternet. Salon.com, 27 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.