The American dream is an idea, a concept that is as old as the first Europeans who beached their ships on American soil. As hard as that may be to believe, and the dream of a richer, fuller life was one that motivated the pilgrims to make that long journey on the Mayflower, in 1620.
What these pilgrims did not know is that they would set into motion various events that would result in the birth of a new Nation called America and the genesis of the American dream.
American bald Eagle
The founding fathers managed to craft the essence of the American dream where they protected the rights of every single American from being unduly taxed and to have the right to elect someone to represent their rights. These founding fathers also framed various laws that finally helped to erect the idea of an American dream which finally came into being, with the end of the Civil War.
Today, this age-old concept strives to protect the right of every American to a freer, richer life with all the freedom as granted under the bill of rights.
But let’s take a nuanced look at the concept, shall we? It seems that apart from the basic idea of liberty, rights, and justice, the American dream can be broken into five components.
- Belief in the American dream: Granted this is a bit of a stretch to expect other nations to replicate America’s success and for every non-American to share the ‘American dream’. But ironically, this seems to work for given the recent spurt in immigration numbers, it is evident that most of these immigrants do believe in this concept to the point that they are willing to leave for distant shores, in the quest for a richer, fuller life.
- Free market economy: This forms the crux of the American dream; a free market economy is one where the market would not be constrained and the allocation of various resources would be defined by demand and supply and not on the basis of government intervention.
- Support for FTA and FDIs: The American dream props up the notion of free trade agreements between nations as this can be beneficial to the concerned nations. And this should help spur others to invest in the nation through the various FDIs.
- Free flow of information: This is yet another cornerstone to the American dream where information is neither restricted nor banned. A free flow of information is inherently crucial to the development of any nation and that includes the United States.
- Belief in the government protection of private enterprise; This says it all; without this inherent belief in the constitution and the fact that private enterprise in the US is strongly protected by the same, it would be hard to keep this capitalist based economy going.
A short Speech on the American Dream
These are some of the main components of the American dream today. Given such conditions of the dream, what is the final goal? That’s easy.
The results are all around us in products advertised by companies of the world’s most successful economy, from gleaming automobiles to the latest hi-tech inventions to affordable delicacies to eat. Affordable is the keyword here’.
The dream allows people to work and be able to afford the items in the glossy adverts while being reassured the pillars entrenched in the American ideal will allow people to do so. The final given: the demand for the perfect life; it is no wonder that many are still seeking to immigrate to the land of milk and honey.
