The American Dream: How the wrong notion of it has turned America into a mess

Foreword

This post is not intended in any way to criticize. Rather it is an attempt to share my observations, in the hope of being able to help make people more aware.

A true friend is one who can you tell you the truth, even if it is unpleasant. For what kind of a friend will hesitate to tell you, for example, that you need a deodorant? While you may have been spared from a little embarrassment between the two of you, your friend has actually allowed you to be humiliated in public by your "friend's" unwillingness to tell you an unpleasant truth. It is my hope that this post will be read in the light of helping.

We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.
Martin Buber

Part 1. What happened to the concept of the American Dream?

Consider the following:

In his essay "The American Dream", John E. Nestler reflects:

"Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things. The American Dream has undergone a metamorphosis from principles to materialism. ... When people are concerned more with the attainment of things than with the maintenance of principles, it is a sign of moral decay. And it is through such decay that loss of freedom occurs."

Chuck Baldwin, in his article, “Can You Imagine This Country?", writes:

" By "the American dream," most people mean buying a big house, driving an expensive automobile, and making a lot of money. However, this was not the dream envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Remember that, for the most part, America's founders gave up their material wealth and substance for something they considered of far greater worth. Unfortunately, this hedonistic generation knows little of the kind of sacrificial spirit personified in the lives of America's patriarchs.

In the minds of the founders, liberty--with all of its intrinsic risks--was more desirable than material prosperity, if that prosperity was accompanied with despotism or collectivism. So strong was their desire that they were willing to give up the latter in order to procure the former for themselves and their posterity.

How dare Americans today refer to material gain as "the American dream." It is not! It is the freedom to honestly pursue one's goals that should be celebrated. Material gain is only a fruit of freedom, not its root."

Part 2. Let’s define exactly how Americans of today believe what the American Dream means.

Note that the list does not apply to everyone. Also, the items that apply to some may not apply to everybody.

Most Americans have reduced the American Dream,

1) to merely mean making a lot of money, buying a big house, or several houses,

2) driving expensive cars and SUVs,

3) going on frequent and expensive vacations,

4) buying all sorts of technological gadgets and appliances,

5) surrounding oneself with gorgeous women (or men),

6) owning a yacht,

7) frequently dining in expensive restaurants,

8) having fat bank accounts,

9) becoming popular, famous and sought after, etc.

So on and so forth.

Part 3. The problems associated with the above definitions of the American Dream.

The inordinate pursuit of materialism, and hedonistic pleasure seeking comes at an extremely high price. Consider:

1) Such pursuits usually demand endless hours of work, and long and burdensome hours of commuting to and from the workplace.

These result in constant stress, constant rushing, unhealthy eating habits, which, in turn, all result in unnecessary health problems, like obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart problems, depression, pulmonary disease, etc.

2) They deprive people of the time for meaningful and frequent quality contact with their respective families.

These result in many marriages ending in divorce. So much for the universal dream of couples living happily ever after.

Children are generally neglected due to unavailability of time. At best, parenting is delegated to others. All these result in their children’s getting addicted to TV, the internet, junk foods, video games, pornography (90% of 8-16 yr olds, while doing homework) to, or even drugs, alcohol, etc.

These addictions have made American children consistently rate, near or at the bottom in International Science, Mathematics, and Physics Tests, compared to the children of European and Asian countries.

The addiction to junk food due to exposure to TV food ads, and the inactivity due to too much TV watching and video game playing, are the biggest reasons why over 25% of American children have become obese. Children who are obese are likely to suffer from adult obesity, than children who have a healthy body weight. Over 85% of children diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes are obese. Aside from causing early childhood diabetes, obesity can be damaging to these children’s self esteem. Children need not suffer from these if only parents take more active roles.

3) People are compromising or are even giving up their virtues and principles that are necessary to build a strong character.

As a result, the average American has become too weak in character to resist the temptations of consumerism, pleasure seeking, and over-spending.

4) People have become addicted to entertainment, from sports to video and other electronic games.

They have gone so far as to even worship or, at least, go “gaga” over sports superstars and TV and movie celebrities. A great part of their disposable incomes are going into too much entertainment. This is tens of billions of dollars per year that can be saved for more productive use. A total of $13.8 Billion was wasted in spending on pornography alone.

5) People have developed the destructive habit of identifying their self esteem to how much money and material things they have.

Any financial set backs can get many of them into taking their frustrations out on their families. Many even go into depression. A New York Times article even reported that some former Wall Street hotshots are leaving their wives (not good) and mistresses (excellent) due the fact that they don’t have fat wallets anymore.

6) Many become lazy and start relying too much, and at an increasing rate, on electronic gadgets to do the usual daily human tasks.

This is one of the biggest factor why almost 70% of Americans are obese. Technology was meant to make free time more available for more productive use. It was not intended to make people lazy and fat.

7) Many become envious of others who are better off than themselves, resulting in a resolve to “keep up with the Joneses”.

In the Catholic faith, envy is one of the Capital sins. Also, even if you are able to surpass the Joneses, they will never get impressed by your success. They will just become the envious ones.

8) Most have become addicted to mindless buying and shopping.

This addiction has resulted in the accumulation of so much personal debt. Total household debt as of 2008 has reached $13.91 Trillion. That is 97% of the total U.S. economy of $14.3 Trillion. With total employment at 147 million (World Fact Book), the average American employee has $94,627 of debt, with hardly any savings at all.

9) A large number of Americans are indifferent to what is politically happening to their country.

On the average, only slightly over half of eligible voters have voted in the elections since 1932. Last year’s voter turn-out of 63% was the highest in almost 5 decades. Even this is still low. This gives the signal to the political leaders of the citizens’ tolerance of government's inefficiency, mismanagement, and even corruption and deception.

This has allowed government to manipulate information like the inflation rate, for example. The hiding of the real inflation rate figures has resulted in people not knowing how much the buying power of their earned dollars is being eroded each year.

In simple terms, if the government says inflation is at 3%, but in reality, inflation is 10%, then your $100 dollar will only be worth $90 after one year, not $97 as government would have you believe. Put in another way, to equal the value of today's $100, you will need $110 next year. That means to have the same buying power, your income will have to increase at least 10% per year. Since wages don’t increase that much, the government manipulates the figures to show lower inflation rate through complex calculations and hedonics, that are very questionable.

10) The illusion of self-sufficiency and the addiction to endless entertainment has made many to depart from the worship and dependence on God.

As a result, this has made them gullible to anything new and popular ideas, like New Age Spirituality, “The Secret”, the “power” of the universe, etc. The universe is inanimate, and can’t think for itself, and much less does it have the power to provide abundant prosperity, as many Americans now believe. The universe is only part of the creation of a Supreme Being, who is God Himself.

But the more distressing aspect of this departure from God, is the reduction by some people of their respect for human life and the family. This reduction has allowed the proponents of abortion and gay marriages to gain more power and influence in the governments’ policy making directions.

Consider:

In the Declaration of Independence, America's Founding Fathers laid out very clearly for us the true meaning of the American Dream ...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"...

America's Founding Fathers clearly understood that faith in the Creator and true Freedom are inseparable. We believe their worldview was a Christian one, based upon the Great Commission of the Gospel and biblically enlightened self-government. As inscribed on the Liberty Bell, they would "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." (Leviticus 25:10)

At the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution, declared:

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come".

The words of exhortation from America's sixth president, John Quincy Adams, call out to us from the past:

"Posterity -- you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Without their knowing it, by not sticking to the American Dream as defined by our Founding Fathers, Americans have lost their freedom. And their pursuit of the wrong dream has only brought them and their loved ones unhappiness. Instead of freedom, what they have is a license, an anarchy of self-centeredness, and individualism which, if not halted will destroy America itself.

Part 4. Solutions

1) The most important solution is for Americans to go back to God.

God alone deserves your worship and adoration. Not money, not pleasure, not rock stars, not sports stars, not celebrities. God is your Creator, not the inanimate universe. He does not hide any “Secret” from you, but in fact has made the awesome sacrifice of becoming Man, just to reveal the Truth about Himself, and the unimaginably magnificent rewards that await all who persevere in believing, obeying, and worshiping Him as the one and only true Power and God.

To the ones who do not believe in this truth, I can only say, the truth does not need you to believe in it. Your disbelief will not affect truth in even the slightest manner. You can refuse to believe that the sun will come up each morning. Even if clouds will sometimes prevent you from seeing it. But, visibly, or invisibly (during cloudy days) the sun will rise. That is the power of only one truth.

2) Simplify your life.

Step back from the fast-paced lifestyle, and bring back sanity and more balance to your lives. Allot more time for your families and engage in more activities with all your loved ones. And pursue your passions and the things you always enjoyed doing. Who knows you just might find a much more enjoyable way of making money.

Settle for just enough money, for how much money do you really need to make yourself and your loved ones happy? If you just give it a try, you might be surprised how relatively little you really need, compared to what you thought before. Go for rewards that are lasting and even everlasting, by going after what are really important.

In order for you to better appreciate this step, I strongly suggest you read the following:

a) Simplify -- Simplifying one's lifestyle while remaining financially secure

b) Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life

c) The Power of Less by Leo Babauta.

3) Oppose government policies that are encroaching on your freedom and liberty. Defend life.

Always remember that the real power in any country belong to the people. The politicians and the media and even big business are all mere servants of the people. For if the people withdraw their support from any of the politicians, the media, or big business, they will collapse.

So, exercise the power that you have not used for so long. Let your collective voices be heard. If you will only just exert pressure on your servants, they will have no other option but to obey your collective will. Writing, or if necessary, protesting to your politicians, boycotting biased media and abusive businesses, are only but a few ways that you can exercise your God given power.

4) Detach from the wrong notions of the American Dream.

The American Dream is really another term for Happiness. People were designed by God our Creator, to long for happiness. That is why there is no person on earth who doesn’t want to be happy. But people look for happiness in the wrong places. So when people chase after money, pleasure, and materialism, they are actually doing it for they all want to be happy.

The problem, however, is that those things cannot provide authentic happiness. They may provide comfort and excitement, but they can not provide authentic happiness. On the contrary, they actually provide unhappiness and emptiness as was so clearly illustrated in Part 3 above, regarding the high price of monetary and materialistic pursuits. They also make people slaves of mere external things.

When America’s Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, they had this in mind. They knew that anything outside of having virtues and admirable principles will only lead to the loss of the freedom that is so crucial to finding happiness. That is why, by detaching yourself from all the unproductive pursuits of money, pleasures and material things, you will cease to be their slaves. And you would have regained your freedom. And happiness, or the authentic American Dream, will then be within your grasp.

Gain more wealth than your mind can comprehend

Supposing that as a result of the market mess, you ended up flat broke, with literally not a single cent in your pocket. Then somehow, you discovered that you have the opportunity of working again. And for the same amount of work, you will be paid with either 7 cents or with $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion. Question: which pay will you take?

But before you answer, allow me to give you a clearer idea of how much money we are talking about here. 7 cents is written as $0.07, which can get you several pieces of candy. On the other hand, 7 Septillion is written as $7 followed by 24 zeros after it. That is, $7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. If you think you can comprehend how much money $7 Septillion (the multiplier and the smaller figure in the equation) is, allow me to draw some comparisons.

1) The total world economy (yes, that includes the United States, European Union, etc.), is only less than US$55 trillion. You therefore need more than 127 Billion worlds, with the same economy size, to equal $7 Septillion.

2) According to its latest report, dated March 8, 2007, Forbes Magazine listed Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest man, followed by Warren Buffett. The two have a combined net worth of $100 Billion. Assuming that their wealth remained the same, in spite of the market turmoil, 7 Septillion is therefore equivalent to 70 Trillion or 70,000,000,000,000 Bill Gates and Warren Buffetts.

3) The world’s population is reaching almost 7 Billion people. If we gave out $7 Septillion equally, every single citizen would have US$1 Quadrillion each! That’s enough to make the word “poverty” jump out of the dictionary and dissolve itself voluntarily, in a quadrillionth of a second.

Now that you have a dizzying and mind blowing idea of how much money $7 Septillion is, remember that you are yet to multiply it with the multiplicand of $70 Septillion. Recall that the equation was $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion. Now after coming up with the arithmetical answer, tell me if you can actually grasp the kind of money we are talking about now, before you swallow a 7 caplets of Extra Strength Tylenol, or Advil, or Bufferin, or Vanquish, to relieve your now aching head. If, after the first attempt, you are unable to, skip any further attempts at envisaging for a while. It’s not time yet. Relax and give me your answer to my original question.

You might ask “What was the question again?” Mathematics has that kind of effect on almost everyone in the planet.

Okay, the question was, which of the two pays will you take?

I am willing to bet all my US$1 Quadrillion (see number 3 above if you are still dazed by all these enormous numbers) that you will exclaim something like, “Are you nuts? What a silly question!”

If indeed that was a silly question, (meaning, who in his right mind will ever take 7 cents for an answer?), my next question is why then do most of us prefer to be silly?

Huh? Say that again?

Naah, you heard me. But for the sake of those who are still dizzy with the numbers, the question again is, “why then do most of us prefer to be silly?” Why do we content ourselves with 7 cents, when we can opt for $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion?

By the way, in the Jewish culture and tradition, the number seven symbolizes perfection. And when you multiply 70 times 7, it means without limit, and even denotes infinity.

You see most of us work our butts off, chasing after all sorts of unnecessary material goods. We chase after them, all in the conscious, or subconscious, hope that these goods will bring us happiness, which is the deepest of all our human desires. But in spite of the fact that experience has consistently shown us that no amount and type of material goods can bring us that happiness, we still keep on piling up with these worldly goods. What do they call people who keep on doing exactly the same thing over and over again, and actually expecting different results?

Remember how you felt when you finally bought your much dreamed about state-of-the-art cellphone, or your BMW 7 Series , or your mansion, or your luxury yacht? Yes, you might have felt happy (although “heightened excitement” or “exhilaration” may be the more appropriate term). But have you noticed how fleeting that “happiness” was? And worse, aren’t you again working even harder to get something “better”, in the vain hope of finally finding those worldly goods that can give you lasting happiness?

That’s why Jesus advised us to refrain from chasing after worldly goods. Being our God and our Creator, He only knows too well what exactly can really make us truly happy. And yet we stubbornly turn a deaf ear and chase after the kind of “happiness” that, in Heavenly terms, amount only to even less than 7 cents.

On the other hand, St. Paul has said “Eyes have not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered our hearts, the kind of happiness that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Translation: our limited senses, minds, and even our hearts, can never grasp the kind of happiness that God so intensely desires to give to us. If only we spend our time on earth doing the work that pleases God.

Can you imagine eternity? Okay, historians and other scholars all agree that recorded human history began in Sumer, a place in ancient southern Mesopotamia (i.e., modern Iraq) just north of what is now called the Persian Gulf. The dates given for Sumer's origin, however, vary widely among scholars, typically ranging from about 3500 B.C. to about 2900 B.C. That makes recorded human history as old as 5,508 years old (3,500 plus 2008). If you think that the time of Columbus was already such a long ago, remember that Columbus lived only about 500 years ago. Think of all the people who died about 5,500 years ago. The ones who made it to Heaven have been perfectly happy ever since. And they will continue to experience uninterrupted perfect happiness for all eternity, or without end. No more problems of even the smallest kind whatsoever, no more need for anything whatsoever, no more worries of any kind, no more feelings of hunger, no more need for sleep. Just perfect and constant happiness.

By the way, remember that you only have one shot at this most important of all decisions. For, like everybody else, you only have one life to live.

So what’s it gonna be for you, the 7 cents worth of "perfect" happiness that this world can ever hope to offer , or the $70 Septillion times $7 Septillion worth of infinite and perfect happiness that our Almighty God is begging us to take?