<p>So, what is it? I'm confused when it comes to this stuff...</p>
<p>Damn good question. :-/</p>
<p>Well, it can be interpreted in many, many different ways...but generally, it's something about how America is the land of opportunity. The American Dream is that everyone can achieve success and be happy, no matter what his or her roots are. </p>
<p>What's the context of your question?</p>
<p>yea...like this would be an American dream. My dad and mom came to America with two hundred dollars and guess what. Now they are prosperous and they own a building and an apartment. that American Dream, coming into America with almost nothign in their pockets and becoming successful</p>
<p>when compared to other countries we are rich as f&$^. like the average annual salary for some places is like $400. with that in mind, the dream i guess would be to have a house and family... but mostly material stuff like lots of $$$.</p>
<p>I think Sweden has a much higher average household income than America.</p>
<p>Coming to America with no money and no language skills and then having your kids go to a top American university.</p>
<p>~Dima
immigrated from Russia '94
W&L '09</p>
<p>The American Dream is basically working your butt off to get rich as #$!@#.</p>
<p>That is all.</p>
<p>That's such a selfish view.</p>
<p>My parents brought my family to this country so my sister and I could have a better life, because it was too late for them to learn enough English to get jobs where they could be "rich as #$!@#"</p>
<p>
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too late for them to learn enough English to get jobs where they could be "rich as #$!@#"
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</p>
<p>Ah. But is it too late for you?
The 'Dream' may also be transferred to descendants.</p>
<p>The american dream? To get rich in a Horatio Alger style because you were chosen by Social Darwinism. At least according to Andrew Carnegie and other Capitalists... yeah.</p>
<p>The American Dream is not to be rich. At least, it didn't used to be. Priorities may have shifted some, but the dream is really to own land. At that time, owning land was probably a little more important than it is now, but the basic principle is to make a life a for yourself and for each generation to do better than the last. Gucci shades came later.</p>
<p>And I guess this is associated more with immigrants, but my family has been in this country a couple hundred years and we still can't get it right. Where's social Darwinism now?</p>
<p>back then, land = money</p>
<p>I mean, it still does to an extent...but even moreso back in the day. :-/</p>
<p>life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. which aren't holding up very well under the current administration, I'm afraid.</p>
<p>Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is holding out really well, to the full extent of its promise, in the current administration. We will be forever in the pursuit of happiness, never to catch it. (Yes, I know I am borrowing a hackneyed misinterpretation of the word "pursuit".)</p>
<p>oh yes, so liberty is definitely denying people the right to a fair trial like we're doing w/ the prisoners in guantanamo bay. and pursuit of happiness is also denying gays the right to marry, because they are definitely inferior to heterosexuals, and downright wrong. life is sending thousands of soldiers to iraq just so they can be killed in a war in a nation which posed such a huge threat w/ their wmds to the security of america. yes, my people, the american dream, the basic values on which our founding fathers wrote our constitution, is being lived out to full extent under our commander in chief, gwb.</p>
<p>Someone wrote (I forget who it was) something recently about how our perception of the American Dream has changed over the past 50-100 years. He said that it used to just mean making enough money to earn a comfortable living for you and your family. A moderately sized house, a car, a wife, 2.3 kids, a dog, all that good stuff.</p>
<p>But now it seems our views have changed. It's no longer enough simply to have a standard middle/upper-middle class income- now the Dream is not just that, but to make it big. Now our view of the Dream is simply to become obscenely rich, without regard to ethics or morals. The moderately-sized house with the white picket fence doesn't cut it anymore- now a big house or an expensive car is the marker of having "made it."</p>
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<p>Perhaps you missed the humor of my reply...</p>
<p>Jesus Christ. Seriously some of you whining folks need to stop complaining and draw a relative mark. America is not perfect it just happens to be the best system thats out there in this world. Look I have lived and travelled in quite a lot of countries and moved here 3 years back. Compared to 99.9999999% of the world America is like the best there is. Yea it aint Shangri-La but seriously sometimes these whining fools need to stop their obsessive remarks of "taking down the system" and go out and smell the roses. Find me a place that is better than the US in the current world and no Buddhist monastaries doesnt cut it.</p>
<p>gotta love liberals....</p>
<p>mahras, you miss the point, just because we're the best out there doesn't mean we can't be better.</p>
<p>We can be and we SHOULD be!</p>