Advertisement I have. Then I started to ask a few others what it means to them.
The phrase is thought to have formally entered the vernacular with the 1931 book “The Epic of America” by historian James Truslow Adams.
It was, Adams wrote, “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
But dreams change. And perceptions differ on what life on the American landscape has to offer.
“Actually the American dream, at this point, is rather eroded and fuzzy,” said local watercolor artist Joan Nee.
When Nee contemplates the American dream, she thinks of her father, Allen Kline. He was a machinist from Appleton, Wis.
Although he lived a simple life, she said, he had complete faith in the country, and he taught her to live the same.
“It’s an underlying faith in the precepts of our country, in spite of the current issues and problems,” she said.
With corporate scandals such as Enron, the mortgage crisis and an insufficient health care system, living the dream takes a deep loyalty, Nee said, on a personal and corporate level. If that loyalty is betrayed, she said, it’s a form of treason.
“It’s about being proud of being a productive country,” she said. “We sold out America when we sold out our goods. I find myself looking at the tags (in stores), but I can’t find much made in America.”
Nee takes pride in her work as an artist, she said, because she’s part of a vanishing practice.
“In a small way I’m producing something American,” she said.
La Crosse Mayor Mark Johnsrud is more of a traditionalist.
“I don’t want to sound too constitutional, but I think it means life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Johnsrud said. “People have the opportunity to pursue their own opportunities and goals.”
In other countries, he said, children follow in the career paths of their parents. But that’s not the American dream.
“Our kids have the chance to be whatever they want to be based on the opportunities and goals they set for themselves,” he said.
That may be true. But — like 87-year-old retired Air Force Lt. Col. Albert P. Blosch — it may be you believe the dream is not so clearly defined.
“I firmly believe that the American dream follows a different path depending on the person treading that path,” Blosch said.
In Blosch’s view, the young dream of acquiring enough material things to impress everyone. It’s about status and recognition.
As for the folks he calls “foolish,” their dream is about parties and excess — living a hedonistic lifestyle designed on pushing pleasure to the maximum.
“For the wiser group,” he said, “I believe their dream is to live the life that God had in mind for them when he placed that little soul here on earth.”
That places Blosch’s ultimate realization of the American dream when he meets his maker and accounts for his actions in the kingdom of heaven.
Nee has a more earthly dream. Because she feels strongly that American-made goods reflect the jobs and dreams of our citizenry, she longs for a store called “The American Dream.”
It’ll be in one of those big buildings Wal-Mart or Barnes & Noble have abandoned, and it’ll be filled with multitudes of items made only in America by American artisans.
“And above each section, there will be photos of who produced them,” Nee said. “And we’ll pay few extra dollars knowing it was all produced in America.”
When he’s not pondering the American dream, Ryan Stotts can be reached at (608) 791-8446 or ryan.stotts@lee.net.
