The Next American Dream
What's in your future?What's your American Dream?
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The next American dream would be self sufficiency and sustainability, spirituality, inclusiveness, education and art. Less greed and "keeping up with the Joneses." More volunteerism, less tolerance for dishonesty . . . less preoccupation with "winners and losers" and more emphasis on cooperation and team building.
Anna Ayers, Appleton, Minn.
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Living within one's means. Having a job that pays fairly. Having genuine relationships with your community and family members that is a result of having time to spend with them, getting to know them, "getting" your kids. Material items should just complement the family, not define the family.
Kari Harding, Canby, Minn.
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In my American Dream, we accept "enlightened self-interest" and desire to educate ourselves and others and to serve others and the planet, creating a safer environment for ourselves and future generations. It recognizes the give and take of life, delayed gratification, and the importance of sometimes sacrificing immediate self-interest to gain long-term greater good.
Laura Hill, Long Beach, Calif.
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Times have changed and the American Dream is no longer relevant today. We now live in a world of excess consumption, so the American dream is a negative ideal to strive towards. Buzzwords like reuse, recycling, carbon footprint, etc., are what characterize our new future. The American Dream needs to evolve to this changing planet of overpopulation and excess materialism. It is not a big problem now, but will be in coming decades. Hence this economic crisis is a good wake up call to practice minimalism and conservation.
Faraz Hussain, Peoria, Ill.
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I think the best American Dream is simply to raise children who are kind and honest. Wouldn't a lot be solved by doing just that?
Jennifer Jesseph, Pine Island, Minn.
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The American dream is being able to wake up everyday with the opportunity to make a difference, not only in your life but in the lives of others. . . . People need to have an attitude of gratitude. I know some people are hurting right now but we have had a negative savings rate for four years. So even when things were going well, people were not planning for their futures, they were only concerned with what toy can I buy now.
Lou Kellen, Lindenhurst, Ill.
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[The American Dream] should always be the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of one's own dreams. However, the degree to which one can pursue one's dreams depends a lot on there being a good, solid economy, and a public attitude of helping others overcome the barriers they must face through no fault of their own, but because of the accidents of birth.
Nancy LaRoche, Broomfield, Colo.
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The next American Dream would be a small, energy-efficient, green home that relies on renewable energy. There would be community gardens in every neighborhood. Mass transit would be well-developed so there would be less need for a car. Instead of one person in a couple working full-time as in the 50's and 60's, or both working full time like now, each person in the couple would work part-time. There would be time to enjoy cooking, gardening and one's home community. Children would have time to play in the neighborhood again.
Greta Lee, Hillsborough, N.C.
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I think the current Dream involves having everything you want, whereas in the future it will probably involve a more restrained view of consumption. Instead of instant gratification, I think it will be more about security and the ability to ride out storms like the current one without too much discomfort.
Andy Lestage, Salt Lake City, Utah
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After living for eight years in the U.S., I wonder if it's not the amazing optimism and the open mind of the American people that makes the American Dream exist. American people rejoice when others succeed and they then believe it is possible for them, too. In France, for example, people despise most of the time the success of others.
Jacqueline Marguerat, Nimes, France
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I hope the nation will return to the original vision. In the old days, the Puritans used to confuse the heck out of the Native Americans, because Puritans made something, decided what was a fair and reasonable price for it, and stuck to that. . . . Thrift was a virtue and allowed you to pull your own weight and be charitable to others. We need to get back to being "fair and reasonable" people with good ethics and values at all levels of society.
Sophia Saraicescu, Newbury Park, Calif.
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I now see things the same as [the late comedian] George Carlin: "You have to be asleep to believe [the American Dream]." In the Great Depression both the bankers and the people went broke together. In the upcoming depression, the bankers will be even richer and the middle class will be shattered.
Mark Sorensen, Ashland, Ore.
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I . . . feel as though a shift is taking place that will cause more individuals to live one day at a time, one moment at a time, with less focus on preparing for the perfect future, which, inevitably, never arrives.
—Tyler Suter, Minneapolis, Minn.
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The next American Dream is going to be "The Simple Life." More people need to understand that less is more is going to be the next American dream. We need to make what we have count and not have "stuff" just to have it. We need to teach our kids that they don't need material things to have a great life. More people need to appreciate their families and the earth instead of material possessions.
Martha Wewer, Holly Springs, N.C.
Support
Support for The Next American Dream is provided by the Kendeda Sustainability Fund.
Comments
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From Forestville, CA, 05/18/2009
I clicked over to this page about "The American Dream," after listening to K.R.'s podcast because I wanted to read what others had to say about their American Dream. We hear this phrase all the time, like corporate jingle that won't be ignored. But like any good marketing, I have no idea what it means, only that I'm supposed to want it, desire it, long for it, and perhaps on a subconscious level, obsess over it. I think my suspicions are validated by the fact that no 2 answers to the question, "What is your American Dream?" even faintly resemble each other. Many sound more like visions of Utopia, which in fact is the European Dream of Civitas Dei, and predates Columbus by half a millenium. As an immigrant whose mother brought him here to escape poverty and the tyranny of sexism only to face poverty and the tyranny of racist hatred and ridicule, I see the U.S. as a siren, seducing people to wreck themselves upon her shores, and this "American Dream" is that whore's nasty, decadent, shameless music video. American people are the most self-flattering hypocrites on the planet. They actually believe their own propaganda. But what's worse is that they believe that goodness and virtue are measured in dollars and cents. Funny that you didn't ask this question when the good times were rolling.
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