You likely don't know who James Truslow Adams is but you likely know what he has added to our American lexicon. In 1931 he wrote "The Epic of America" where he coined the phrase "The American Dream" to define “a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
Contrast this to the post-WWII definition which considered the economic boom that a quickly expanding economy was largely responsible for including the expansion of the middle class. Paul Jenkins writes in his essay "American Dream 1950s: Dissecting the Era of Optimism and Growth" that "The 1950s in the United States saw remarkable shifts in society, influenced by a post-war population increase, evolving family structures, advances in education, and significant strides towards racial equality." Of course, the American Dream continues to evolve as the Wall Street Journal stated this year "Americans overwhelmingly desire all the traditional trappings of the American dream—owning a home, having a family, and looking forward to a comfortable retirement. But very few believe they can easily achieve it."
The American Dream which was defined originally as equality of opportunity to social attainment has evolved largely into a consumerist version of economic opportunity to essentially keep up with the Joneses (an expression worth learning the origin story). Certainly, 1931 was very different than 1951 and 2024, even more so. In 1931, we were at the height of the Great Depression, struggling to keep our nation from collapsing like the Weimer Republic did in Germany. For many people, the policies of the Hoover Administration had failed, and the success of FDR and the Democrats in 1932 and 1934 was giving a new foundation for Federally-funded national social programs necessary to jumpstart the flailing economy and raise families from the depths of the Depression, some of which are still with us today, such as the Social Security Administration. With WWII, the establishment of the military/industrial complex was necessitated and led to many jobs for women and minorities to stoke the war machine. By 1951, while the US was embroiled in the Korean Conflict, our economy was flying high with many women returning home from the workforce to create the largest new generation, the impact of which we still feel today--Baby Boomers. In the ever-expanding suburbia that was create largely from the GI Bill which provided 16.4 million WWII veterans access to low-interest ending programs for homes and education (though it was very much a flawed program through local control where blacks and other minorities were concerned). Never before had our government invested in building a robust, competitive workforce and the middle class became a fixture in American life. Nonetheless, the new American Dream was not color-blind,
Fast-forward to 2024 where young people currently doubt that they will ever have the life their parents and grandparents had access to. According to USA Facts, "the 60% of income earners between the top and bottom quintiles — commonly referred to as America’s middle class — have seen their share of wealth diminish since 1990. Over the past three decades, this group’s share of total wealth fell to 26% from 37%." Yet, many people identify as being middle class irrespective of their income. Both lower-income, working-class earners and top-earners self-identify as being in the middle class. I speculate that the American Dream is not dead, but as George Carlin famously said “...they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” Essentially, the dream of America has always been aspirational. And, kind of like participation trophies for kids, if everyone wins, there are no losers. As long as we can dream of a better version of the United States, we can be assured that it will either happen for us or it won't. Either way, we are right.
It seems that politics are driven by the bipolarity that we Americans accept regardless of our political leanings. If you want a nation proud of our economic prosperity or you want a nation proud of strides toward opportunity for all, you have got it. If you fear that we will not attain more prosperity or more opportunity, you also have that. We are a nation that waves our flag proudly a lot, and we are a nation that also flies it at half mast a lot. It is a functional democracy that allows us to dream of the America of our dreams. That is always what is at stake when we hold elections. The understanding of the American Dream can be shape-shifted by ideology. That ideology may not care if we ever have an election again if it fits a vision of an authoritarian/kleptocracy America. My hopes and actions are directed at keeping us from sinking into the stupor version of sleep of the American Dream that George Carlin warned us about and continue to aspire and to quote J.T. Adams, “dream of a better, richer and happier life for all our citizens of every rank.”
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