American Dream Case

The "American Dream" has lots of clichés and can mean so many things to so many people. Whatever the meaning may be, it is deep within each of us. However, it often times seems as if the American Dream is simply political propaganda. Some days it's as if the politicians, corporate leaders of the world and the media are trying to convince us that the American Dream exists. It does exist and it is clear in everyday success stories heard around the World. President Barack Obama is the epitome of someone achieving the American Dream. When it comes to the topic of the American dream, most of us will readily agree that in some degree, it does exist and that it is still alive. Where this agreement usually ends, however is on the question of how the American dream is obtained and if it is available to anyone. While some are convinced that you can achieve the American dream and secure a comfortable lifestyle for yourself by hard work and education alone, others maintain that no matter how hard you work and how far your education runs, sometimes you just simply luck up with various opportunities, blessings or good fortune in life. Some believe that the American Dream is in the hand of politicians or another party of persuasion. However, I believe that the American dream is developed in one's youth, usually with a sense of right from wrong once influenced by parents and affirmed by culture.

For Generations, parents have told their children about "the American dream." Basically it has meant building a life based on the foundational principles that created and have sustained America for more than 200 years. By doing so, one might reasonably expect a new generation to achieve a better life than their parents and grandparents experienced.

For many of us, the liberty is our first expression of the United States, along with prosperity, attracting numerous immigrants to it year after year. Prior to the 21th century, the American Dream, which means that the opportunity for people's children to grow up and receive a good education and career would be gained without artificial barriers, had created a brand new world for those, who used to be limited due to class, caste, religion, race, or ethnicity, and their offsprings. Historian James Truslow Adams popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America: 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.

Despite its foregoing contribution, the American Dream has been criticized by some commentators because the modern American wealth structure still perpetuates racial and class inequalities between generations. Heather Beth Johnson states that edge are not always connected to individual successes, but often to prior position in a social group. What's more, a research suggests that "the United States and Britain show less intergenerational income-based social mobility than the Nordic countries and Canada." The criticism reached its peak after the World War II. The Beat Generation wrote a good deal of literatures to represent their disappointment to the country. Nevertheless, the blame toward American Dreams could be explained. It is partly because European governments, worried that their best young people would leave for America, distributed posters like this to frighten them, and also the war has lead low morale