Why Is The American Dream Alive

Dreams Transformed, Not Terminated

Despite America’s low level of satisfaction and happiness, most Americans believe the American Dream is alive, and that they have achieved it, or on their way to achieving it. Only 17% of Americans believe the dream is impossible to reach or no longer exists for their family. (Davis, 2017) The original american dream was the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Surprisingly, the American Dream is still alive and well, it has just transitioned into the drive for money, power, consumerist ideals, and materialistic ideals. As a result of change, the American Dream has benefited and hurt a plethora of
The original ideal of the American Dream was that all Americans should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity but it has transformed into materialism, money, and greed. People are still putting in hard work, determination, and they have initiative to succeed which proves that the American Dream is still alive and well. In the last decade, many people have become excessively lustful about homeownership and wealth, which is contributing the detriment of our economy and society. Trump and Carson have suggested that Americans revolve the dream around owning a beautiful home and a roaring business; however, it used to revolve around freedom, mutual respect, and equality of opportunity. (Shiller, 2017) Each generation varies their definition of the dream they pursue because of our evolving society. Thirty years ago, a Roper study was conducted to observe people’s values and definition of the American Dream. Originally, people valued “living in an open society in which everyone has an equal chance,” over having freedom of choice, having a rewarding career and family life, and owning a home. All of these values are still significant to the dream, but the order has drastically transformed. In today’s society,“Having freedom of choice in how to live” is most valued, and ““living in an open society in which everyone has an equal chance” has dropped to least valued. (Gelfeld,
A multitude of people who are famous, came from nothing and made themselves into someone with hard work, determination, and the incentive to be known. Examples of this include: average athletes are becoming olympians by enduring rigorous training, money, and time; Oprah’s journey from poverty to prosperity by becoming a successful radio talk-show host; and singers who are being recognized through American television shows such as American Idol or The Voice. In political offices, a prosperous person is a lot more likely to win because they can afford to campaign and travel more. The political example shows how the power of money has a heavy influence on people voting and how a person with money usually possesses an advantage. However, not everyone has benefitted from this new American Dream, there are a plethora of people left disappointed and