The American Dream Confronts Reality ... And While There is No Joy in Mudville, That Better Reality May Help Us Chart a New, Improved and Different Course for the Future

Who says the American people don't get it? And that we don't understand about the lingering negative effects of the recent housing/debt fiasco and that the longstanding American dream has been turned into a current nightmare?


Well, new evidence suggests that more and more of us are facing reality squarely and realizing that future prospects aren't looking all that good because of the path we're following as a country.


So we oldsters can take some small (real small) comfort in knowing that we're finally facing reality. Now perhaps the government officials can follow along and do likewise.


And that's because the willingness to face facts is always a necessary precondition to getting to a better reality down the road.


Thus, in my view it's a good and necessary thing that the "American nightmare" may be coming to an end with respect to debt, housing, globalization and a 'government knows best and will be able to save us from ourselves' approach to our nation's and individual current hardships.


The American Dream is out of reach, say hardship-hit families references and summarizes the findings of a newly released survey:

Digg

• Yahoo! Buzz
• MySpace
• del.icio.us
• Reddit

• LinkedIn
• Fark
• StumbleUpon
• Newsvine

“The American Dream is ‘a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work.”
Wikipedia

"American dream? More like a pipe dream, according to a research report released Wednesday.


The fresh poll from CNN/ORC International shows 59% of adults think the American dream has become impossible for most to achieve, up from 54% in a poll conducted in 2006. What’s more, 63% of those surveyed believe most children in the U.S. will grow up to be worse off than their parents.


Older Americans were even more pessimistic, with 70% agreeing that kids won’t do as well as their parents, as opposed to 59% who agreed in the 18-34 and 35-49 brackets. . . .


Just a day earlier, MarketWatch’s  Quentin Fottrell reported on new research showing that more than half of Americans (52%) have had to make at least one big sacrifice over the last three years, just to be able to pay the rent or mortgage. That study also found that many don’t associate the American dream with home ownership anymore. . . .


Commenting to CNN on the findings, Erin Currier, director of the Economic Mobility Project at Pew Charitable Trusts, said the gloomy response reflects the hardships facing families. “They are treading water, but their income is not translating into solid financial security,” . . . .

Summing Up

America's best days lie ahead of, and not behind, us.

We can do better.

We must do better.

We must relearn to trust ourselves and each other and not rely on government "help" and "expert guidance" to take care of us.

The evidence on the negative impact of more and more government "help" and phony "expertise" versus the positive aspects of common sense based self-reliance, family values and community support is overwhelming.

What are we waiting for?

Let's go back to the future.

Thanks. Bob.