30 - Part VII K: Resetting the American Dream

After taking one year off to teach “Forums for a Future” as a university honors course, I have resumed the series. The continuation applies the concepts developed in the first 16 episodes to an open-end list of contemporary social issues. As a way to get started, I created a three-part “Review and Transition” (Podcasts 17-19) to provide a brief summary and introduction for those new to the series, and a quick review for the original subscribers. Today’s episode, Podcast # 30, is the eleventh in the open-ended series of positive approaches for addressing the many specific contemporary economic, social and political issues that challenge our capacity for having a future in the 21st Century. The key concept in today’s podcast is that the financial crisis of 2008 -- 2009 has made clear that the economic pirates of the Modern Era have stolen the American dream by subverting, if not destroying, the very promises that shaped the nation. Clearly, it is time to look ahead and to ask what beliefs and values are required to see the future as inviting and hopeful. I suggest there are three old 20th Century concepts that we need to “let go of.” They need to be replaced by 21st Century beliefs that provide an exciting and hopeful future -- it is time to create the American Dream.