THE PARADOX OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

 

The “American Dream” is a timely topic to consider in this year of national celebration and reflection. On the surface the dream promises upward mobility and contentment for America’s citizens. However, as our history has unfolded, it is fair to ask whether the dream is a national creed worth celebrating or a disappointing mirage for millions of Americans.

The widespread use of the phrase is attributed to the historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author James Truslow Adams. In 1931, he published The Epic of America that solidified the phrase into our culture. He wrote, “There is an American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all of our citizens of every rank. A dream of a social order in which each man and women shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

The notion of an American dream was a novel idea in the development of western political philosophy and economic theory.  The concept emphasizes individualism, self-reliance, and social/economic advancement. Conversely, the European social-democratic model focuses on providing a generous baseline of needed benefits, independent of market forces. European nations seek to improve the collective “quality of life.” While America prioritizes personal success, Europe emphasizes universal security.

Journalist Hua Hsu has an interesting perspective in his recent New Yorker essay, Reflections: “The Curious Case of the American Dream.” Hsu finds that following the Civil War and again after WWII “the promise of a prosperous, socially mobile way of life unavailable elsewhere seemed to make sense. Gains were shared across socioeconomic strata, as people moved from farms to cities to suburbs.”

On the other hand, Hsu also points out that African Americans have long argued that they have been denied participation in the American dream. He also references a 2024 Pew Research Center report that “forty-seven per cent of Americans no longer trusted the American dreams’ promise of success through hard work and determination.” This negative position has provided an open door for MAGA populism to gain a foothold in our nation’s middle class.

The remainder of this commentary will consider two very different criticisms of the American dream as first expressed by minorities and, more recently, by the “left behind” middle class.

The abolitionist and former slave Fredrick Douglass provides an excellent starting point. In his famous 1852 keynote Independence Day speech he remarked, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice; I must mourn." The message was that America's celebrations of liberty were a cruel mockery to enslaved people.

Following emancipation, the tone softened, but the opportunity to participate in the American dream remained elusive. In his historic 1965 Cambridge University debate against William F. Buckley Jr., James Baldwin argued that the American Dream “was built directly at the expense of Black Americans.” Baldwin asserted that the foundation of the nation's wealth and "dream" relied on the exploitation, enslavement, and continued degradation of Black people.

Martin Luther King Jr. viewed the American dream as a "dream as yet unfulfilled". He described it as a great, universal promise deeply rooted in the Declaration of Independence. King argued America had defaulted on this promise for its Black citizens.

More recently, the late Black Congressman John Lewis weighed in on the American dream. Lewis viewed it not as a guaranteed reality, but as a “potential promise that must be continuously fought for.” The election of Barrack Obama as President was a hopeful sign, not an endpoint.

Lastly, my Cincinnati editor recently discussed this topic with his African American friend. She responded with her heartfelt observations. “I have never experienced America’s love—only its tolerance and even that had to be fought for. The current state of America is requiring me to fight a fight I have already fought. My sense of unity, hope, and shared responsibility is diminished.”

For members of the middle class that feel victimized by their inability to gain economic traction, the issue is a return to, not an initial participation in the American dream. The MAGA slogan and its policies promise a recapturing of lost economic opportunities. MAGA claims that the roadblocks to success are immigrants who take jobs, liberals who ignore the middle class, and our secular culture that removes Christianity from the complex brew that could revive the dream for middle class America.

While I agree that there are entrenched problems blocking middle class advancement, I disagree with both the reasoning and the harsh and vindictive solutions proposed by MAGA.

Is there a path forward that can eradicate racism and sexism, while repairing the declining middle class to make the American dream available to all? Can it be done without one faction attacking the other?

Thankfully, once the excesses of MAGA populism and progressive socialism are disregarded, there are fundamental points of agreement in establishing the American dream. All factions can work together to challenge the entrenched power of corporations, billionaires, and special interests. They can agree on an economic model that guarantees economic security for all Americans when “best efforts” fall on hard times. They can demand the removal of policies that exploit and replace them with ones that reward effort and good deeds.

Finally, with some common sense and compromise, the American dream can become more than a slogan and unite all of us.