Waking From The American Dream in Society
The belief that any person in the United States of America can better their life situation through hard work or education is a national identity. The original promise that is so widely believed is repeated by my family, friends, and people in our society a truth of our country’s very character.
My mother brought me up to believe the American Dream. Though we were poor, she accomplished a lot through hard work though she had no education. She got a job as a school administrator and was able to better her life financially. Those earlier generations demonstrated that we were the land of opportunity.
Why growing poverty and poor social health?
Today, there is growing poverty and poor social health in our society. We’re usually speaking of someone’s income or lack of wealth for poverty. When speaking of “social health,” its our society’s overall “illness, death, and presence of physical, social, and personal resources,” according to Professor Dennis Raphael. A poor individual has less access to health treatment, so when there is more poverty in a society, more social health problems occur for that society.
Studies have shown that poverty in society is related to economic inequality. Economic inequality is called by Raphael “the unequal distribution in income and wealth of residents within a nation, state/province, or locality.” Inequality of income and wealth isn’t new, and we can’t say that it’s ever been distributed equally. It is enough that the unequal distribution of wealth is also an unequal distribution of poverty; and it’s concerning considering the social health implications for a country.
Does the American Dream work against economic inequality?
The American Dream is meant to counterbalance economic inequality. Work hard or educate yourself, and America will reward you with a portion of the wealth and opportunities for health and wellness that others have. That is the deal, and if poverty and social health problems are growing to alarming levels, the American Dream may not work against economic inequality as it should.
The question is who is at fault for the growing poverty and poor social health and well-being of our society in the United States of America. Our belief in the American Dream has caused us to blame poor people in our society, who suffer from declining social health and well-being, for the conditions of economic inequality that cause their poverty and health problems in the first place.
This is difficult for citizens of the United States of America to admit, despite the evidence. It cannot be that the American Dream is not working, because it is a belief that is held dearly by the majority of the population. The question instead is, “What is the cause of such poverty when our country offers opportunity and a better life situation through hard work or education?”
What was the early promise of American Society?
If we look at our society in the past, enough people made a better life for themselves that poverty still was seen as a personal failing.
In the generation of my mother and grandparents, poverty was seen as something that was possible to work your way out of until you and your family were able to enjoy prosperity. The 1950’s in America were the standard, and there were examples of this when one looked at many families. The following video depicts this era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntd2BH-iIsA
Despite larger social factors, there were enough increasing opportunities that the idea of possibility had merit. Many families were able to work, make financial gains, purchase homes, and the family’s children could go to college. Not every family was able to do this, but the reasons were believed to be from personal issues such as substance abuse, irresponsibility, or lack of extended family support. The American Dream was obtainable, but not inevitable, and most of society could make it.
Today the promise of the American Dream comes into growing conflict with our society’s reality. There are historic levels of economic inequality in our country. Wealth is concentrating in a small percent of the population, and poverty and its by-product of health problems is a growing percent of the population. The sick and the poor are increasing in America, but the American Dream asks, “How can they be sick and poor in this country if it isn’t by their own choice?”
Is the increasing population of poor and people without adequate health access simply an increased population of citizens with tremendous personal issues?
Or are there larger reasons that we have these historic levels of poverty and poor social health in this country, maybe even reasons that call into question our belief in the American Dream itself?
Why is national identity as self-identity a problem?
Americans hold to the conclusion that personal issues are at the core of poverty and related health problems. The American Dream is a great promise not easily disbelieved as true. It implies the lack of initiative; hard work, education, ingenuity — or all of the above — lead the sick and poor to be sick and poor. It is believed that the American Dream is our very character, and if it is somehow wrong, than we are somehow wrong. Nobody ever wants to believe they are wrong, much less a nation. America has the powerful proof of its “rightness,” by having allowed some of people to actually realize the American Dream in the past.
That allowance is possibly a part of the past now too, as Americans are finding themselves as being part of the population of the sick and the poor in growing numbers. Yet they can’t let go of the identification with the American Dream itself. In the struggle to pay their bills and stay healthy, they strive to work harder, go back to school, and be more “competitive.” They blame themselves for not realizing the American Dream, and feel they are primarily responsible for the difficulties they experience in their lives to better their families’ situation financially, socially, and with obtaining health and wellness. Working two jobs, or both parents in a household with children working full-time — still they are falling further and further behind. It is still not seen as a fault of the government system in America, or that it can have a flaw at its core causing citizens’ financial or health hardships.
People in growing poverty don’t have a lot of time to consider our government system in much detail. In reality, people can’t do much about their circumstances through personal actions in any case. The barriers they face to adequate wealth and good health are generated by a system that is far more powerful than any one person. It is becoming more powerful than even groups of people working together. When people do realize this, they usually call for change in a party, a President, or other government representative. Though there is more awareness that something is wrong, rarely is it seen that there needs to be a change in the actual structure of government, not just in the people we are placing in government.
The American Dream was an obtainable promise, never an inevitable truth. If we can wake from the dream and address reality, is the promise any longer possible? If so, how? If not, why?
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