The American Dream

The political warfare occurring in the days leading up to the midterm elections has appropriately focused itself on the economy, ongoing unemployment problems and such misunderstood concepts like the “deficit”, the “stimulus” and the perceived cost of what administration opponents are calling “Obamacare”.

A recurring theme seems to be that “The American Dream” is dying.

So, what exactly IS the “American Dream”?

The specifics of this nebulous concept may vary, but a commonly held belief goes something like this:

”I want more for my kids than I have had for myself”

In other words, there is an expectation of improvement in either wealth or quality of life with each succeeding generation. The notion then, is this: most Americans no longer believe that things will be better for their kids.

I contend that “The American Dream” as defined in the last couple of generations is almost 100% defined by the acquisition of material things.

Stuff.

We need a more spiritual definition, I think.

The Founding Fathers, in their definition of the “American Dream”, seemed to articulate its parameters as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. At the time, under British rule, there was taxation without representation, search and seizure, arrest without warrant and religious oppression.

Seems like the Constitution (and all of its amendments), The Bill of Rights and the structure of our legal system have largely taken care of the “biggies” that precipitated the American Revolution. Nowadays, it’s all about stuff.

The one caveat seems to be a desire to provide education for our children—ever expanding levels of schooling, from the once-held pinnacle of a high school education, to then college—and now, graduate school. Even these goals, however, when distilled to their core and investigated---have “earning power” associated with them. Earning power to buy more stuff.

It’s no secret that poverty levels have increased in America—and I do not for a second want to minimize the plight of those who truly are destitute. I do believe, however, that those living at the poverty level in America might be considered wealthy when compared to the standard of living in other parts of the world.

Here’s an interesting—and sometimes contradictory look at a “person on the street” definition of the American Dream—done by the New York Times:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C48aGtPIuZo

The most encouraging thing about those percentages in that video—is the re-evaluation of the thresholds for “success” or achievement of the American Dream.

Using Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs as a basis for evaluating what the “American Dream” has come to, it’s useful to look at the different levels—and where we are as a society. Remember that Maslov’s theory contends that a human being cannot aspire to higher levels until lower needs are met. Once the lower needs are satisfied, we progress to the next level of needs—and our motivations are likewise modified:

Level One: Physiological Needs: These are the most basic—air for breathing, water and food, sleep, sex and excretion. In America, most of our population has these needs met quite handsomely. In fact, the obesity problem is greater among those of lower socio-economic levels, so we are more than surviving physically as a society.

Level Two: Safety: The security of body, health, employment, property, family, etc. Many people are stuck at this level. With jobs scarce and the wealth invested in 401k’s for instance having dwindled, this is a source of genuine concern to many American families.

That said, we have redefined material goods (property) as being “necessities” when in fact they are not. Cell phones, with their “apps” and features have made us ever more connected, but somehow, we did SURVIVE without them. The same goes for cable TV, video games, the internet and so on. These toys, I would argue—HAVE enhanced our lives/quality of life---but they are now seen as basic needs when in fact they are not.

Level Three: Friendship, Family, sexual intimacy. These needs are(thankfully) not influenced by politics or politicians. Their attainment is completely independent of economic status, geography, gender or age (within reason)

Level Four: Esteem: Self esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others. Largely a function of education and family environment, this level is also not dependent on which party is in power.

Level Five: Self Actualization: Morality, creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts. This is the highest level—to which there are still different degrees of attainment. Nelson Mandela is here at this level, but the janitor from your child’s school might also be there. It is self defined and different for everyone.


We have gone from a society that came over as immigrants with literally nothing to what some nations feel is a self-absorbed and “soft” nation of citizens who demand instant gratification.

What went wrong?

Most of us have the following-in abundance:
Food
Clothing
Shelter
Transportation (many families own multiple cars)
Flat screen TV’s, computers, iPods, iPhones, video games, DVD players, gadgets if all types
Leisure time and disposable income to go to restaurants, movies, theme parks, vacations.


Will our children not have these things?
Or, as Madison Avenue demands, our car isn’t NEW enough, our house isn’t BIG enough, our clothes are not GOOD enough. We need MORE shoes, need a BETTER set of golf clubs, etc.

The list is endless—and in a consumption-driven society, creating dissatisfaction with your current state of affairs is the fuel that powers the internal struggle to acquire more and more.

As talk show host Dave Ramsey said:

“We buy things we DON’T need with money we DON’T have in order to impress people we DON’T like”

How true.

Why don’t we acknowledge that we, as a society, have largely reached a standard of living that is more than adequate? With 5% of the world’s population, America sucks up 20% of the world’s resources.

Maybe the American Dream should be redefined to advancements in fields that will improve our world. If our kids had as their motivation, say, a CURE FOR CANCER driving their desire to go to med school—instead of “DOCTORS DRIVE MERCEDES”, we might have more satisfaction in our lives.

One’s life mission—or “dharma”---has always been defined as that ONE mission that each of us is UNIQUELY suited to carry out, one whose hallmark is making a contribution.

Hoarding “stuff” will never lead to satisfaction, fulfillment or self-actualization.

We “have” enough. It’s time to “do” more.


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