#311: Is the American Dream a myth?
Every generation believes it can't get any better, but let's look at why that's not so.
As background, I gave this speech to a group of graduates a few years ago.
With numerous articles recently about the end of the American dream, I am sharing.
I am going to do what no other teacher has asked you to do during a lecture … daydream.
Close your eyes and place your hands flat on the table before you. Imagine being in an old meeting room at a Country Club or maybe the Michigan Law Library.
The table you are feeling is made from rich mahogany, and the surface is polished with an oil that has made the top remarkably smooth.
Now take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. There is a faint smell of stale cigar smoke in the air, and as you let your breath out, you sink deeper into the soft leather club chair you are seated in.
Please open your eyes. It is 1916, and you are part of the graduating class at the University of Michigan. You look to your left and right, knowing that one-third of these men will soon be going off to fight WWI, the War that will end all Wars.
Your mind is now beginning to wander. And you start asking yourself deep questions.
What has the World come to?
Looking back at the last 100 years, America has grown from a simple country of farmers to a powerful industrial nation during this century. The country now spans from Ocean to Ocean. But, with 48 Contiguous States in the country, you see no further room for growth.
The ingenuity of this past century has given us a transcontinental railroad, the automobile, and the airplane. As a result, people can travel from coast-to-coast in hours instead of weeks.
The US has been blessed with innovative leaders such as; Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, JP Morgan, Bell, Edison, and Rockefeller. The radio & telephone are now replacing mail and the telegraph, and information is spreading faster than ever in history!
Sitting here in these soft leather club chairs, you are starting to speculate if this may be as good as it gets.
How can this generation ever repeat what the previous ones have?
Is the American Dream achievable?
This generation won WWI and made it through the Great Depression, and their Children would go on to win WWII.
Fast forward to 1946
America and its Allies had just won the War. And a new mantra was heard - never again! Nuclear weapons were used for the first time; Europe was in shambles and needed to be rebuilt.
The 18-year-olds and college graduates again asked, could this be the end of the world as we know it?
Flash ahead to the mid-60s
I am a five-year-old in a Detroit Suburb, standing beside my mother. I see a tank driving down the street to protect our neighborhood from the riots less than 2 miles away.
One year later, I saw my mother crying in the kitchen. Hunched over slightly, she listened intently to the radio, hearing that Bobby Kennedy had died overnight from an assassin's bullet. Was I dreaming, didn’t a man who had a dream just get assassinated a few weeks ago?
Although I was too young by a few years, my friends had older brothers that went off to Vietnam and never came back.
In the 70s, I would wait in gas lines listening to the Watergate hearings on the car radio. Later in the decade, we would face unemployment of 12% and Inflation of 15%. And Americans were held hostage by an upstart nation of Iran for 444 days.
My generation faced much adversity; most didn’t believe the American Dream was possible. As a result, half of my high school graduation class left Michigan, leaving the rust belt behind to pursue their dreams.
This generation ended the Cold War, created the Internet, and is working on DNA sequencing.
Present day
Each generation, emerging adults get to look back and wonder, how can we do what previous generations have? How can we obtain the American Dream?
The operative word is “dream.” We don’t dream of things that have been achieved; we dream of things that haven’t been attempted yet. Each generation is offered new challenges. Each challenge is an opportunity. It is their responsibility and requirement to find solutions for them.
Opportunities are also created when you solve problems, big or small. We can learn a lot from our past. But only living will tell us how far we have yet to go.
If the American Dreams is truly unattainable, that would indicate that all problems, past, present, and future, have been solved. How many of you are that confident that all issues are solved?
A recent YouGov poll indicates that 43% of U.S. adult citizens believe the American dream exists, while 35% do not, and 23% are unsure whether it does.
A recent Gallup poll shows a grim outlook on young people and their prospects of achieving the American dream. Gallup has been asking some version of the following question since 2008:
“How likely do you think it is that today’s youth will have a better life than their parents?”
This year’s responses were among the most pessimistic yet. Less than half of those surveyed in Gallup’s most recent poll said they expected young people to have a better life. That’s an 18-percentage point drop since 2019.
Innovation and what it brings
Each of the innovations over these past 200 years has created new industries that have attended to the needs of hundreds of millions of people.
I agree that we will not invent a new airplane industry, but we have recently developed a new transportation company called UBER.
I contend that Bell invented the Telephone, but we all agree that Apple re-engineered it and created a new communication category.
Henry Ford launched his famous Model T in 1908, and now we find Tesla is doing it without gasoline, and soon someone will launch one without a driver!
Look at the world now and try to look through the fog of the current issues, problems, and conflicts. Some roadblocks may slow us down but will not stop the American Dream, ingenuity, exceptionalism, or desire.
What will this group be part of in the future?
Will it find the cure for cancer?
Will you be part of a team that puts a human on Mars?
Will you help negotiate a lasting peace that hasn’t been possible in 1,500 years?
It is challenging to see through the smoke of today’s conflicts, viruses, and problems to believe that there is a brighter future.
If that is the case, then listen to what JP Morgan so eloquently said,
“Go as far as you can see, and when you get there, you can see further.”
All man-made problems have man-made solutions. However, nothing we face today can stop YOU from dreaming and meeting your goals.
Whether you dream of billions, cures for cancer, a happy family, security, or anything else is up to you. Every single new thing started with a dream. So create your vision, and find your compelling reason to achieve that dream. Set the goal, make the plan, and then work the plan.
Remember that you can only go as far as you can see. So, when you get to a corner or run into an obstacle, look around it. Don’t think that it’s the end of your path.
And lastly, never compare yourself to others or other generations. Instead, compare yourself to YOU YESTERDAY! And then question yourself:
Are you moving along at a pace that you are happy with?
Are you on your plan?
Are you meeting your goals?
Are you working on yourself every day?
If those answers are yes, you will not only achieve the dream but also be living it.
When someone asks you if you believe in the American dream, remember what Henry Ford said:
Whether you think you can or can’t, you are right!