Is the American Dream Still Alive? Essay Example

allows anyone who aspires, desire, a longing, to perform the one's dream.

There is no recognition of bounds of race, creed, and gender for religion. It stands for something prodigious, something that even Tom, Dick, and Harry can strive towards it. To live this dream, it allows succeeding. It has allowed anyone, wealthy or poor to have the opportunity to succeed. It requires hard work, persistence and a desire for something superior. To have these potentials and the aspiration to carry the influential part of the American dream.

Today, Americans are still firm in their prioritization of individual freedom and choices and are decidedly anti-statist compared to their foreign counterpart. For instance, American are more than three times as likely as West European to disagree with the sentiment that “the government should guarantee every citizen food and basic shelter” (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012).

Correspondingly, West European are more likely to believe than the Americans are that “It is the responsibility of the state to take care of very unfortunate individuals who can’t take care of themselves. It is not that American are less caring than those in other countries. Rather, they value personal responsibility more than do their counterparts elsewhere. The perception of the individual is thus a principal value.

The current health care debate provides further evidence provide the important choice in American society. Research shows that 34 percent of American claims that they” need more material things than their parent did at a similar age” (Parker, 2013). They need a worthy life in things like a college education, good health, security and high paying jobs.

Regarding the fragile economy today, it is tempting to focus on the unevenness

of the recovery. The stock has made impressive rebounds in recent months, but the unemployment rate remains high. Large corporations are trying in simulating measure to generate growth. Economic activity seems to be on its way toward pre-recession levels, but the economy remains delicate. Weak nationwide real estate marketplaces, sluggish job growth and lost during the recession are hitches to effusively recovery. The worry of inequality is in the risen where wealth seems to concentrate into the hands of a wealthy minority.

An economist Robert Reich, says, “When the income and wealth continue to concentrate at the top, and the vast divide between America’s have more, and lessees continue to widen, the Great Recession won’t end, at least not in the real world (Acemoglu & Robinson 2012).

As the recent struggle over civil rights, women’s rights and gay rights illustrate, American is not a static concept. In the years, American has been associated with freedom and equality of opportunities, but at the present, this value has undergone various iterations. During the 2012 study by New York time, interviewers asked respondents to define the American dream. The responses were more spiritual and vested in emotional, rather than material, security (Parker, 2013). Majority considers, educational opportunity, good family life, secure retirement, reduce the effect of global warming, achieving peace in the world and economically security as the 'major part' of the American Dream. The Dream seems not have been made yet for there is still crisis happening around.

During the reigns of the presidents George W. Bush, the phenomena seem to change due to their expansion of government intervention in the Obama era (Gallagher, 2013). The government is getting more

power to control who wins and who loses in the markets, powerful and politically well-connected incumbents usually reap the benefits on this cronyism.

Freedom is becoming one of the most crucial aspects of the American dream. Freedom seems to be relative and restricted in many ways depending on who has the power and how it is used. The freedom has no questions and challenges about the establishment of new methods of doing and thinking. The majority of the union and corporation they do not ultimately feel to own this freedom. This is challenging to the caste system in America, since the unions aim to establish an equal society, starting to improve the working conditions has not been working. This eventuality affects economic downturn has caused pervasive hardship, but it would be a grave mistake to attribute the country’s economic woes to prolong erosion of corporation opportunity.

Americans are living in challenging times. Still driven by one tenet of American progress, which is hard work will get you ahead. Americans are working harder than ever, yet for many each step forward can feel like climbing a steep dune.

Shaken by a sharp economic downturn, the many Americans who live paycheck to paycheck are feeling greater anxiety about their ability to secure their futures and in turn, achieve the American Dream.

Despite this, another tenet of progress is American ingenuity, endures in younger generations, and their drive is evident in the many ways they are getting creative with work to ensure they move forward.

However, for all generations, the road forward is no longer one common pathway, but a growing series of fissures, each unique in character. This new ‘DIY American Dream’

shows that the Dream is alive and thriving. If progress comes through change, then the evolution of this Dream from a once collective, idealistic and perhaps more materialistic vision, to something deeply personal and non-material reflects the sign of these American times.

Driven to achieve the Dream while challenged to plan long term, more than ever, Americans are looking for guidance and support. Fortunately, though governments and employers may no longer be the primary resources for planning and achieving the American Dream, small, measured steps, and a little financial planning insight can guide Americans out of the sand and onto firm, level ground.

Reference

1. Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2012). Why nations fail: The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. London: Profile Books.
2. Gallagher, L. (2013). The end of the suburbs: Where the American dream is moving.
3. Parker, S. (2013). The squeezed middle: The pressure on ordinary workers in America and Britain. Bristol: Policy Press.
4. Smith, H. (2013). Men on strike: Why men are boycotting marriage, fatherhood, and the American dream--and why it matters.