The American Dream...Fact or Fiction?

I've probably been spending a little too much time on some other blogs, posting comments to their musings than staying here at home putting mine into the blogosphere. Okay, you've got my attention and hopefully I've gotten yours for a little while here...

On the blog of "The Urban Fox" we've been having a very spirited debate about the relative goodness or badness of the way the American and Western socieities have become as "The Fox" puts it, lavish consumers of far too much. We're raping the rest of the world...gaining only for gain's sake. Having posted a number of responses, counter responses I decided to see if my audience has some thoughts on the idea of the American Dream. Specifically, is it still available, attainable, and worth chasing?

First, I would maintain that America has one of the best, most accessible education systems available to both young and old in the world. While I think that it's far from perfect for a large number of reasons, nobody in America can say that they didn't have access to education. We mandate that kids from 5-18 attend school on the order of 200 days every year. Pulling out 104 weekend days, a dozen or so holidays, week long vacations once a semester, and then a summer break where kids and teachers can take a couple of months off to recover to begin anew in the fall...we've got the calendar covered.

Next, can anyone argue that American and "The West" are the economic, industrial, and technological leaders in the world? Name another nation that has the track record of innovation, production capacity, and will to do what it takes to better mankind. While many people will say this is evil, over-consumptive, and flat out lavish...do we not share our advances and gains with the rest of the world? Is anyone willing to say that the world is worse off for some of these advances? (Let's leave SUVs out of the discussion....) Let's think about some of the wonder drugs, the medical advances, the agricultural surpluses we share, and the like.

To wrap this all up, let's take a look at freedom. In the West, we have freedom of speech, freedom to travel, and freedom to create wealth beyond the imagination of many others around the world. The key to doing this, is desire. Desire alone cannot be a driving force it must be coupled with the willingness to actually do something to improve your lot in life and the willingness to take the risks necessary to achieve a goal.

There are some in this country that live in what I'll call depressed areas. The industrial power of the "Rust Belt" is waning, perhaps to be lost forever. However, the residents seem to be locked into a geographic region that keeps them from going to where the new jobs are...a hesitance to re-train themselves for the next job...and generally a lackadaisical view of life.

What seems to be lacking in our society today is the "pioneer spirit." If we were to capture this again, I seem to think that we could get ourselves back on track and move forward with our lives. Government isn't going to be able to do this by itself. Personal responsibility and desire to improve the general condition are the key ingredients. Government simply helps in setting up an environment where this is all possible.