I would like to post a paper I wrote on the American Dream. It meant something to me because I like to get to the point and get people to think "What is it that we believe in and why?"
As a society we have so many beliefs and sometimes, people do not even know why we believe that way. I reaed a book while writing this class by Cal Jillson. It is an eye opener.
There is not a single American Dream; there are many different versions of what the American Dream was and is suppose to be. The American Dream was a fantasy and a nightmare to some of what was in American History. Now the American Dream is an illusion by politicians on unsuspecting people who do not want to use their common sense to find out what may or may not be true because society has lost the overall communal concept of what virtue and respect is. It has definitely evolved over time.
As Jillson points out, the American Dream really wasn’t coined until the twentieth century. (pg 6) Prior to that time period the American Dream was more like a creed – a religious ideal of men. This “American Creed” was the struggles that our ancestors faced early in the 1600’s when they came as a collective group to settle a new land. They all had a basic shared concept of liberty, equality and individualism as mentioned but as a whole in the community. (pg 3-4) But as a collective group, they had ideas of how life was supposed to be in order to have that would be blessed by God. Puritans and Quakers were among the first of these groups to ascend the shores of a new beginning. (Jillson pg 15)
Religious leaders like John Winthrop (Puritan) and William Penn (Quaker) had similar dreams that religious authority for direction in their lives and communities in this new land would up lift themselves and show Europe how to purify their own societies to have early security and success. (Jillson pg 16-34) After all Jillson elaborates, “To live well required good land and hard work. The earliest settlers believed that God had created a particularly rich and receptive land for them.” (pg 34) The only difference between the Puritans and the Quakers were that Puritans were a closed community and the Quakers wanted to build, establish, and expand. “Unity, order, and discipline were the keys to their survival.” (Jillson, pg 35) Of course as Jillson notes to what Perry Miller states that this type of living did not continue, because as time evolved, the local governments established were nothing more than a religious dictatorship. (pg 43) This is a prime example of a fantasy. The promise of life in the New World is like following Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple of 1978. Jones was a strong religious leader in his community like the Puritans and the Quakers. That society did not last like the Puritans and the Quakers were smart enough to change with the growth of the population. They enjoyed material possessions.
Benjamin Franklin could be classified as a “mover and a shaker.” He grew up in a cloistered way of life but left. He went out and lived to see all that could be seen. He may not have a formal education, but he grew and used his knowledge to build from. (Jillson pg 30-31) The stage was already set in the generations of men who had resided in the New World, that men had already developed their political and social aspects from the certain old world traditional opinions which did not represent all people. (Jillson Page 2) With time came change, an economy, a need of wealth – to possess. It was a time of man to be conquerors; to tame a wild land that was bigger than they expected. (Jillson pg 13) With that said came the formation of America and the leaders (the owners of property) were the ones who had equality and liberty—not women, not African American and not Indians. As understood “liberty can conflict with equality.” (Jillson pg 4)
“Robert Beverly and Benjamin Franklin had similar points about “poor and servants being sober, industrious and frugal, they soon become Masters, establish themselves in business, marry, raise families and become respectable citizens.” (Jillson pg 5). “If Abraham Lincoln and Bill Clinton can become president and Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates can become the world’s richest man, then others can reasonably seek to rise as well.” (Jillson pg 7) This would lead us to believe that there is such a thing as the American Dream and that it is alive and well. This too is a fantasy.
I consider the American Dream as somewhat of a nightmare of injustices because of too much individualism and too much liberty; this has compromised the virtues of our youth. Take a good to look at what is considered as respectable, sober, industrious and frugal then in comparison to now. For example, is former President Bill Clinton (an adulterer) respectful? Did Andrew Carnegie become famous and respectful during or after his life? Use former President George Bush who was (according to his wife, Laura) was very seldom sober. Was he frugal in his business practices? Were any of these men poor and did without the simple basic needs in life? Ted Bundy, Heidi Fleiss, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Bernie Madoff were sober, industrious, frugal, Masters, established businesses, one raised a family, and they were all respectable citizens in their own communities. I was once told by an administrator who worked at HUD years ago, “good credit tells about a person’s character.” Bundy, Madoff, and Fleiss had great credit; they must have been of good character! In comparison to then and now, the American Dream was a fantasy and to some a nightmare because it was hypocritical in a religious dictatorship. Now it is just an illusion because the society as a whole has lost the concept of virtue and respect that should be exercised by all. We as a society have put our American Dreams in our possession which is an illusion and not in our selves for what is just, right and best for our societies.
Jillson, Calvin C., "Pursuing the American Dream". University of Kansas Press. Lawrence, Kansas. 2004.
Looking back at this, I have to ask, do we believe what we learned as being truth? Is it really truthful in what we believe? Do you understand the concept that a lie can be the truth?
