For years, decades really, the American Dream has been dead. For people born in America anyway. But politicians, pundits, and commentators have banged on about it regardless – I suspect mostly because if they admit that the Dream is over they would have to construct some other meaningful framework to hold this vast and disparate society together. As the Dream dies, so does the concept of American exceptionalism. Sure, America is still exceptional, but it is no longer singularly so. It is no longer the top dog in every field of endeavour and is unlikely to be so again. Arguably it never was, and where it was, that was often because of its willingness to embrace the talents of immigrants. To accept them as Americans contributing to the exceptional whole of the polity.
When was the last American generation that really benefited from the Dream? The 50’s, with the boom of well paid manufacturing and professional jobs? The 60’s with the Civil Rights movement and Americas assent to being the dominant world power and all that ensured? It certainly hasn’t been any generation since. Sure, there’s still opportunities, but individual success doesn’t equate to a National Dream. One person winning an obscene lottery every couple of years cannot be a unifying American Dream. Can it?
Instead we’re left with a significant portion of the population suffering from intergenerational disappointment and being unable or unwilling to comprehend the reasons for their disappointment. How their own consumer, social, and political choices contributed to the death of the Dream. Those people have become afraid of the future, afraid of the new, afraid of the energy of immigrants. They phone for mythical golden eras, but lack the will and knowledge to rebuild them. The Dream has curdled, and this diffuse anger will not age well.
For years, decades really, the American Dream has been dead. For people born in America anyway. But politicians, pundits, and commentators have banged on about it regardless – I suspect mostly because if they admit that the Dream is over they would have to construct some other meaningful framework to hold this vast and disparate society together. As the Dream dies, so does the concept of American exceptionalism. Sure, America is still exceptional, but it is no longer singularly so. It is no longer the top dog in every field of endeavour and is unlikely to be so again. Arguably it never was, and where it was, that was often because of its willingness to embrace the talents of immigrants. To accept them as Americans contributing to the exceptional whole of the polity.
When was the last American generation that really benefited from the Dream? The 50’s, with the boom of well paid manufacturing and professional jobs? The 60’s with the Civil Rights movement and Americas assent to being the dominant world power and all that ensured? It certainly hasn’t been any generation since. Sure, there’s still opportunities, but individual success doesn’t equate to a National Dream. One person winning an obscene lottery every couple of years cannot be a unifying American Dream. Can it?
Instead we’re left with a significant portion of the population suffering from intergenerational disappointment and being unable or unwilling to comprehend the reasons for their disappointment. How their own consumer, social, and political choices contributed to the death of the Dream. Those people have become afraid of the future, afraid of the new, afraid of the energy of immigrants. They phone for mythical golden eras, but lack the will and knowledge to rebuild them. The Dream has curdled, and this diffuse anger will not age well.
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