The State of the American Dream

The State of the American Dream
A term coined many decades back instilling hope in the hopeless American Society, “American Dream,” revived the desire of the world into an optimistic America. However, with many elapsed decades the question remains is the dream alive or dead? The world looks onto the American society as an accurate reflection of the commercial standards proving a substantial justification for the liveliness of the American dream. Even though there are various debates on the cases of employment and unresolved racial discrimination, the comparison of the American economy with the outside world affirms that the American dream is still alive. Despite the current racial disparities and the derailing middle class, America remains the center of success.
After many years of struggle America has only managed to minimize the rates of racial discrimination. The American society still experiences racial disparities as different ethnic groups’ efforts to meet their personal interests at the expense of other communities. America through ages been guided by various presidential leaders who have instituted different laws to mitigate the incidences of racial discrimination. However, it is ironical realizing that undermining of these statutes happens within the judicial systems that are supposed to be the saviors of the minority groups. As reported by a recent survey carried out by the Pew Research Center about 45 percent of the Americans agree that America has established measures to eradicate racial disparities while 49 percent demand for more work to be carried out (PewResearchCenter par.

1). Furthermore, the report states, “about two-thirds of black respondents (68%) and a quarter of whites (27%) say blacks are not treated as fairly as whites in the courts” (PewResearchCenter par. 5). As the judicial system limits justice on the blacks, in turn, the numbers of incarcerated blacks alongside those of the whites have escalated resulting in developed perceptions that the Black-Americans are prone to crimes. Moreover, the acculturation of the Black-Americans in the United States society still encounters restrictive conditions because of the reluctant white communities. Therefore, in the presence of the racial disparities, the American the working environments of different communities have remained under dictation in a democratic country limiting the economic progress.
Additionally, the American dream liveliness has been distracted by the derailing second class. The American dream hoped for a stable society and reduced accumulation of wealth in the upper class. Nevertheless, the dreams have turned out to be an influence of more establishments of the wealthy minorities who have taken control of the American economy. The government’s efforts to stabilize the American economy and income across all the classes faced its fall in the 1970s after the incoming of new leadership that demanded regulation of wages and national debts. “The shrinking of the middle class is not a failure of capitalism. It’s a failure of government. Capitalism has been doing exactly what it was designed to do: concentrating wealth in the ownership class, while providing the mass of workers with just enough wages to feed, house and clothe themselves” (McClelland par. 12). The efforts put forth by the capitalism served as an accurate reflection of the prospects of the American dream. However, the government’s desire to regulate the employment remunerations through the establishment of salary classes served less significance towards achieving the dream. Instead, the government’s decision established a more drift between the classes, rendering the middle class as less achiever while accumulating the national wealth in the minority upper class. As a result, the American economy has stagnated lowering the living standards of the majority of the American states.
Regardless of these obstructions of the American dream, America’s economy has remained to serve a significant example to the outside world as a successful nation. It is interesting that the American citizen evaluates their performance within their country and they value their failure based on their set objectives. Once the Americans fail to achieve their goals within the given period, a spirit of fail engulfs the whole nation which reevaluates its abilities for another attempt. Assessing from within one would say the American dream is dead due to the unending racial discrimination, unequal distribution of wealth across the societal classes, and increased corruption in the country. However, this is not the case when the USA’s economy and performance is compared to that of its external competitors. Tim Roemer in his article writes, “The United States has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, a per capita gross domestic product of $47,200 and a gross national purchasing power that equals those of China and Japan” (par. 5). Based on such an inference, the world’s economy is dictated by the United States’ standings which other countries are always competing against to evaluate their achievements. Moreover, the USA’s national economy stands higher than that of Russia, Britain, France, Brazil and Italy who are its closest rivals. Having that in mind, one could freely state that American Dream is still alive and it is worth achieving; therefore, it is up to the national abilities to mitigate the distractors.
In summary, the American nation has always been driven by the American Dream that desires to make American a better place. Even though, there being several obstacles such the racial disparities and unequal distribution of wealth across the societal classes, the American economy reflects the liveliness of the American dream. America has always stood out at per or in front of its economic rivals such as Japan, China, Britain, France, Italy, Brazil, and Russia revealing its economic prowess. In the long run, the American economy has always been exemplified as a standard measure of other countries’ performance.
Works Cited
McClelland, Edward. “RIP, The Middle Class: 1946-2013”. Salon, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2013/09/20/rip_the_middle_class_1946_2013/.
PewResearchCenter,. “King’S Dream Remains An Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities”. Pew Research Center’S Social & Demographic Trends Project, 2016, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/08/22/kings-dream-remains-an-elusive-goal-many-americans-see-racial-disparities/.
Roemer, Tim. “America Remains The World’S Beacon Of Success”. Washington Post, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-remains-the-worlds-beacon-of-success/2012/01/19/gIQA0PYpBQ_story.html?utm_term=.dd3927653344.