183 The American Dream

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“The American Dream” has at least two meanings & probably more depending on who you talk to. Most of us think the meaning we were raised with is the only one, and we are surprised when we use the phrase in debate but the other side seems confused. My meaning, the traditional liberty meaning, is that The American Dream is to aspire to have as much control over your own life as possible. This may mean a small business for most, but building a nest-egg at a firm then retiring early is a close second. Of course, there are also folks who love what they do & want to be able to do it until they drop which is their version of The American Dream.</p> <p>Basically, to us liberalists, The American Dream is making our own decisions, doing what we want & accruing the benefits or suffering the consequences as the case may be, which isn't necessarily easy nor comfortable. But socialists have an entirely different definition: to them, comfort & security are important. They don't want to feel intimidated by the accomplishments of others, and they find ambition & pride appalling. Their view of The American Dream is so askew to the traditional view that they actually look to other nations for their model. This would be of no concern to most of us because we follow the liberal principle of “live & let live,” but socialist ideology is top-down, do-as-we-say, so if we are to keep The American Dream alive, we're going to have to fight for it. Granted, increasing disparate wealth accumulation & globalism has narrowed the opportunities for such a large portion of our population that to them socialism seems the only solution, so part of keeping The American Dream is fixing that problem.</p>