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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 GLOSSIES 
4

American Dream Dies in Our Wallet

Lust for fame and fortune have hijacked the nation's true promise

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(Newser) – To the dreary lexical suite that defines our times—greed, foreclosure, stimulus and debt—we must add humility, David Kamp writes in Vanity Fair. Our gluttonous pursuits and ridicule of middle-class life has landed us in the grip of a recession and twisted the shape of the American Dream, he notes. “What needs to change is our expectation of what the dream promises,” Kamp writes.

The “American Dream,” a phrase coined in 1931, originally expressed an abstract, egalitarian interpretation of the Founding Fathers’ “pursuit of Happiness.” But modern Americans have reshaped it into a dollar sign and a "Juiceball Era" of "steroidally outsized" purchasing. The true American Dream "should be embraced as the unique sense of possibility this country gives its citizens—the decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what you wish," notes Kamp.

"It is not an all-or-nothing deal, that it is not, as in hip-hop narratives and in Donald Trump's brain, a stark choice between the penthouse and the streets," David Kamp writes of the American dream.   (Shutter Stock)
"We need to challenge some of the middle-class orthodoxies that have brought us to this point, not least the notion that the middle class itself is a soul-suffocating dead end," David Kamp writes.   (Shutter Stock)
"These are tough times for the American Dream," David Kamp says.   (Shutter Stock)
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Simon Cowell has done a great many youngsters a great service by telling them that they’re not going to Hollywood. The American Dream is not fundamentally about stardom or extreme success.
- David Kamp

The middle class is a good place to be, and, optimally, where most Americans will spend their lives if they work hard and don’t over-extend themselves financially. - David Kamp

These are tough times for the American Dream. As the safe routines of our lives have come undone, so has our characteristic optimism—our faith that things will eventually return to normal. - David Kamp

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Woofer58
Mar 8, 09 9:27 AM CDT
I don't agree. I feel that the greatest majority of us are victims. Most of us middle class folks don't have time to be greedy... we are too busy holding down two jobs just to make ends meet. We were ra*ed and pillaged by a tier of the economic structure that controls America's wealth. They are the greedy ones... not us average Americans. Don't try to make me feel guilty for buying a 5 year old car because it's all I can afford. Go preach at the guys that buy a Ferrari then only put 300 miles on it before they sell it. Reply
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Forderon
Mar 8, 09 11:27 AM CDT
I believe you need to look up what "middle class" means. Someone working 2 jobs is not in the middle class, its lower. The real middle class has for the last 30 years fallen in love with excess and "other people's money". Now it's coming back to bite in the biggest way.
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PaleRider
Mar 9, 09 12:34 AM CDT
Your focusing on the wrong group, how about people that are driving Lexus and Land Rovers, Leased of course to the welfare office and getting food stamps and their heat and rent paid for. All they have to do is stand in line while talking on their cell phone for a few hrs a month. If you think I'm wrong, go take a day and stand in the waiting room of your local Social Services and see what kind of car they get into when they leave. I know my county alone spends a Mandatory 140 Million a yr on Welfare.
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radnip
Mar 10, 09 2:09 AM CDT
Blame your fellow voters: They voted under a millionaire's mentality, constantly giving tax breaks and help to the wealthy and not writing elected officials when the local school needed books.
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