Hello Ahsante, I love your perspective on the what people call “American Dream”, and I can deeply relate. I am working towards my American Dream, too. I came from a traditional Asian family, where academics are the only answers to success in life, what I have always viewed it in a very different way. Prosperity and wealthiness have never been my priorities in life; what is the point of being in a middle-class, do-no-wrong family if you cannot make the choice you want in your life. I moved to the US when I was 15, where I witnessed “true ” freedom; where children can do and develop the skills, the talents that they are passionate for. I have always been a sharp student during my time in my home country, but I did not enjoy academic necessarily. I was taught to maintain and prioritize my academic life, heck when I signed up for college it was my parents choice to sign me up for the major that they wanted for me: Engineering. It was part of the lifestyle and the attachment with the friends that I made during my years here that I was finally able to step up to my parents and decided to follow my true passion: Business Administration. As per my American Dream, I am still working on it; I am stoked and excited to move on to a brand new chapter in my life after my Bachelor’s degree (graduating next year ideally). Again, I deeply relate to your points: the American Dream is not necessarily about prosperity. For me, the American Dream was simply the freedom to finally decide the path that you wanted in life.
I agree that resignation is not the answer. But I would also argue that the system is not just unfixable, but it was made wrong. I think we need to start talking about ways to operate outside of capitalism. We need a level of change at a rate that is not possible within established formal systems. This is not an argument for anarchy or revolution by force. Rather it’s a call for a conscious objection of the status quo, and calling in of the change we want to see in the world.
I agree that we need to think of more innovative ways of cooperating. I also think the main change I want to see in this case is people having the resources they need to flourish - and I think we could do a much better job distributing resources within the current systems we have in the US (taxes, UBI like the one we all just got, government assistance with food, housing, education, etc). There are mechanisms in place to help the neediest and prevent the rich from hoarding, but we've let the floor fall too low and removed the ceiling entirely, and we haven't invested in modernizing our systems of democratic governance - both under the move to neoliberalism. Capitalism (trade and private property) has taken different forms throughout history and I think capitalism could function much better than it is currently IF we had checks on private interests through a collectively elected democratic government that serves at the pleasure of the people. I think the unfettered, undemocratic version of capitalism we're living under now is the problem. And I think it would take much more time to 1) conceive of a totally new system 2) convince an entire country of people to adopt the system (or fight each other about it...) and 3) rebuild the totally new system from scratch - than it would to amend the frameworks we have to stop the worst abuses (amendments to the constitution have made a huge impact). So yes, agreed that we should absolutely dream up new systems - in the meantime, I want to call on us to more immediately patch the holes in the one we have and reduce a lot of damage.
I don’t think people are opting out because they think it’s unattainable. Lots of people attain it and realize it’s not worth the price that they’ve paid with their time and health. It’s more of a get what you need and get out instead of staying in the rat race until you’re 62.
Huh, is that still a phrase/concept people use? Interesting. I remember discussing "The American Dream(s)" back in high school, we talked about the concepts in such a way it sounded like it was an outdated thing that people don't really 'believe' in anymore (even though it's changed over time anyway). Really interesting to hear the perspective of an American who's alive ^^ I guess if the dream is to "do better" than your parents generation, that kinda sounds like perpetual growth. Which is indeed unrealistic. Then again, I guess growth doesn't have to be economic. I very much hope that equality and peace will grow continuously. But unlike working hard to get rich yourself you can't really work hard and then live more equally and peacefully yourself. As you said, we can all change a little part of the system, but we have to work together to change the whole thing.
@KarolaTea I really like what you said about perpetual growth being unattainable. Perpetual economic growth is capitalism’s goal, and it’s unattainable, and it’s contributing to boom/bust cycles where some generations have fewer resources than others.
Yeah, perpetual growth is not the goal! That is indeed unsustainable. The dream would really be of having resources and opportunity despite the conditions you're born into, and being able to advance out of poverty (I haven't seen the American Dream ever applied to those born into wealth). Another note though - "doing better" doesn't necessarily mean growth, it means a better quality of life which includes free time. The economist John Maynard Keyenes predicted in the 1930s that we'd eventually all be working on 15 hour weeks at this point because of advancements in human productivity and the abundance of resources to go around. If we didn't want to expand our output so much (growth) then maybe that would be the case *sigh*.
Great points in this video! I just see A lot more people are realizing they’re in control of their own destiny but now kind of now have no idea where to start in America
Very interesting. I think the American Dream still exists but most people want the American Dream to be their dream life vs working towards the American Dream. Also,, I think the system isn't "broken" but I think it is far from perfect, because it doesn't align with the constitution nor does most people in the system spend the effort necessary to understand the system.
