Published Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:55 PM
Updated Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:56 PM
Unless you’ve been living in a jar of olives lately, you’ve heard that the American Dream is dead in the water.
From loan defaults to crippling health care costs, we’re in trouble. If you read, watch TV or just listen to the voices in your head, you’ve heard the news:
“Upward mobility is not an option for the newest crop of young professionals.”
“Owning a home is now a pipe dream--if not a bitter pill--for most Americans.”
Yep, lately life has been a little tough. (And now we can’t blame it on Jimmy Carter.) A lot of us can empathize with the shock of clutching a college diploma in one hand and a sheaf of “We’re not currently hiring at the Can-O-Rama Corp….” rejections in the other.
In 1984 I graduated college with a B.A. in English and promptly discovered poverty. (Not really; I just kept waiting tables while writing the Great American Novel, but that’s another column.)
It’s tough to find a well-paying position today. And yes, health costs are terrifying, buying groceries is an exercise in shock and the price of gas is about as bad as it gets.
But does all that mean the American Dream no longer exists?
I think not. We’re still living the dream.
Don’t think so? Just for kicks, take the following quiz:
* Does our government tell you how many children you can have?
* Have you ever stood in line in 25-degree weather to buy mystery meat?
* Did you have to dodge guerilla bullets when you took the trash out last night?
* Have you been dragged from your home by government agents lately?
* Can you drive through an upper-class neighborhood, even though you’re poor?
* Does your child have rickets?
* Have you ever waited three years for an apartment to become available?
* Have you ever taken your children to a public playground, park or library?
* Do you worry about being labeled a traitor and dragged off to a “reeducation camp”?
* Have you ever been to the local market and found rancid vegetables and moldy bread?
* Have you ever had to lie about your level of education to stay alive?
* Do you worship at the church of your choice every week?
In America, we can largely express what we want about (and to) whoever we want. (The exceptions, of course, include words like “kill you,” “ransom,” and “aliens command me.”)
We can go anywhere we choose. We can belong to “secret societies,” criticize our elected leaders and buy whatever we can afford (and often what we can‘t.)
We’re never so poor that we resort to eating our pets. We can adhere to any religion, or none at all. We can go to public meetings and complain.
If these privileges--and numerous others I haven’t mentioned--don’t define the American Dream, I’ll see you in Moscow.
Julie R. Smith, who ironically gained a Russian sister-in-law in 2000, can be reached at widdleswife@aol.com.