Killing the American Dream

Is America still the land of opportunity? With the once vibrant city of Detroit going bankrupt, the generation currently entering the workforce doubting they have the opportunity to do better than their parents and vast numbers of underemployed adults; it is easy to see why many in America believe the American Dream is dying on the vine.  How did we squander this central theme to the American existence?

What is the American Dream anyway?  At the time of our country’s founding it meant three things: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  The Dream was knowing those three ideals were available to all coming to our shores.  For much of our country's existence, this was the foundation of the American Dream that built generation after generation of increasing prosperity.  It was the driving force behind huge numbers of immigrants joining our population and succeeding.  

The biggest change between the original founding and the perceptions of the American Dream today is the morphing of the phrase 'pursuit of happiness' into the 'right to happiness'.  The country’s younger generations have been instilled with the idea that the American Dream grants happiness as a right.  In doing so, we have removed from them much of the drive available to pursuit the limits of happiness.

This approach to the American Dream alters its intention.  It injects materialistic baseline prior to success, rather than after you succeed.  Happiness, which was based on individual goals and achievements, is then given a much more rigid monetary value.  The presumption is made that one universal concept of happiness can be established for all citizens.  No longer are individuals realizing happiness based on personal achievements; rather, an anticipated happiness based more heavily on what others have achieved.

Detroit is the epitome of this death.  Everything was designed to provide happiness as a right.  From the compensation of union employees in both the automotive and education sectors, to the ever increasing welfare state.  It became a place where the government, supported by unions, determined what level of personal wealth citizens should expect as a right.  As a result, Detroit became a town of complacency where people enjoyed the life and liberty of the a free nation, but neglected the personal ability to pursuit their own happiness and the freedom that comes with personal responsibility.  Instead the people Detroit, burdened under the weight of sacrificing the pursuit of happiness for the right of happiness, are paying the ultimate price; the death of their city.  This pattern is playing itself out on a national level.  One must wonder how long before the country as a whole crumbles under the same false premise that happiness is a right.