The American Dream Is A Nightmare
<p><em>“They call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” </em>George Carlin</p>
<p>Does the phrase ‘American Dream’ mean anything to you? Having changed many times since first used about 100 years ago, the American Dream now refers to an <strong>orgy of consumption</strong>, driving Americans to seek happiness in material goods, at great cost to themselves and the natural world. Why is the American Dream such a nightmare?</p>
<p>According to historian Sarah Churchill, “The original ‘American Dream’ was not a dream of individual wealth; it was a dream of equality, justice and democracy for the nation. The phrase was repurposed by each generation, until the Cold War, when it became an argument for a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/behold-america-american-dream-slogan-book-sarah-churchwell-180970311/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">consumer capitalist version of democracy</a>.” Churchill writes that the Dream’s evolution froze in the 1950s, when it became identified as the material good life, which Merriam Webster describes as “<strong>the suburban home</strong>, good jobs, two cars, and plenty of money.”</p>
<p>In the 50s postwar boom, this materialist vision seemed to work. Even lower class, prefab <a href="https://www.planetizen.com/definition/levittown" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">suburbs like Levittowns</a><strong> represented a big step up from urban slums</strong>. People could watch other white people in TV sitcoms living in nice houses and imagine their own lives <strong>being so comfortable and rewarding.</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://davidsperorn.medium.com/the-american-dream-is-a-nightmare-8e0b20c8f227"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>