The collapse of faith in American democracy is derivative of a collapse of trust between the American people and a critical mass of vital institutions. The collapse is vast, and applies broadly across political, media, corporate, social, and religious institutions. There seems to be one set of rules for people at the top and one for everyone else.
There are staggering percentages of Americans who are grinding through a daily struggle to barely hang on. Forty percent of Americans have less than $400 cash savings available in case of an emergency. According to a recent CNBC poll, 58 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
Stunning numbers face hunger as a daily stress because food insecurity is a constant and hovering presence. Vast percentages are ill-housed and unsafe from an epidemic of violence and corruption.
Tens of millions of Americans are unbanked, meaning they can’t open a passbook savings account. They are consigned to the predatory whims of the paycheck lending industry, which projects undiminished growth in the decades ahead.
Over one million Americans have been killed by opioids. Millions more have been shattered because of them. They were killed by greed and corruption. Across a vast landscape the towns and cities that powered the American economy through much of the 20th century sit forlorn, dilapidated, rusted and forgotten. Within them are the crumbling remnants and dreams of what had been — with no hope that anything will ever be as good again.
Millions of Americans have lost their dignity, then their faith, and next, their hope. They stopped believing that their children would have more freedom and opportunity than they did. Many stopped saving, investing, building and planning for tomorrow because there was no tomorrow for which to plan. Just getting by means surviving the next moment, and then the next, and the next after that, for millions of Americans. Thinking beyond the present is less a luxury and more a fantasy for scores of Americans.
Something profound has been taken away from these Americans — and it must be restored. What has been taken from them was their faith in the American dream. Its restoration should be at the heart of a reform era of American politics that revitalizes institutions, rebuilds trust and empowers the American people to pursue happiness, prosperity and stability for their families and our shared descendants. There must be a reawakening of the American spirit that is grounded in the nation’s highest ideals and promises. Like before, it is time to renew the dream that can never die so long as America endures.
It is time to climb to the mountain top that Martin Luther King Jr. scaled and from which he preached during his final last prophetic speech from Memphis, Tennessee, on the eve of his assassination and American martyrdom. It was from there he saw the new horizon of a just society that would be attainable in an unnamed era.
Let’s build it now. Shouldn’t we? Why wouldn’t we? Why would the idea of America be abandoned because there is evil, hypocrisy, demagoguery, corruption, predation, racism and every other imaginable vice known to humanity within it? The point of America is that all of these things can be overcome, and have been — and will be until such a time that the nation perishes, or there is no more sin in mankind’s hearts.
The United States — its creation, foundation, ideas, ideals, progress and contributions — rank among humanity’s greatest achievements. We are a nation of 330 million souls spread across a vast swath of the Earth made up of people from every nation. We are united by a constitution that guarantees freedom and justice under a rule of law that has endured for nearly a quarter of a millennium. That is an astounding achievement, and one worthy of great collective celebration and introspection. Soon America will be 250 years old. “We the people” will have to make a decision to embrace the future by imagining a different path than the fast track over the edge of the cliff the nation is accelerating towards.
American power is multifaceted. The impact of the nation’s artists is impossible to quantify, not just in binding a country through expressions of freedom, but through their global reach. America has always been an idea and a dream as much as it has been a place. America is a song that has lit the world and given hope to millions. Consider these lyrics from the song “Living in the Promiseland,” sung by Willie Nelson:
Give us your tired and weak
And we will make them strong
Bring us your far off song
And we will sing along
Leave us your broken dreams
We'll give them time to mend
There's still a lot of love
Living in the Promisedland
Living in the Promisedland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every one
Is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road
Across the shifting sand
And room for everyone
Living in the Promisedland
The American dream is an anthem and a unifying thread through our history. It is the manifestation of the shining “city upon a hill” that John Winthrop talked about at the dawn of the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1620. There is no comparable ethos in any other country on Earth. The American dream is fueled by optimism and faith that anything is possible in a land in which freedom imposes no limits. It is powered by the idea that tomorrow can be better than today, and that grit, determination and resilience will always pay off.
The American dream exists in a space where it is simultaneously real and mythological, elusive and attainable, believed and disbelieved. It is steeped in a faith of optimism that rejects limits, boundaries and pessimism.
The words from the Willie Nelson song are an expression of the American dream, and the idea that it is available to all people from everywhere who can come here and become Americans. This is elemental towards America’s identity and history. We are a nation of dreamers, strivers and believers because we are a nation of immigrants. Whether it is the Black family that fled the Jim Crow south during the great migration, or German, Italian, Polish, Irish, Japanese or Chinese families that arrived 100 years ago or 100 minutes ago, what connects them is the shared experience of closing their eyes for a final time in a place that was home before leaving for America. With each arrival the story is refreshed and the dream renewed. It is the wellspring of American power and hope.
Remember the American dream when you listen to the announcement speeches of the MAGA/GOP candidates who are joining the 2024 presidential race this week. Remember how small their pettiness and arrogance is. Remember how small the MAGA cause is. Remember how great the United States is, and how powerful and real the American dream is. Even though it is battered and bruised it is very much alive. Its expansion and restoration should be at the center of the crucial debate ahead. The country can’t continue to tread water. It must move forward and enter a season of renewal. The place to start is by allowing the American dream to take root again. How? Faith and belief are a start. Hard work comes next. Remember though, anything is possible in this place. Never stop believing in it.
Steve, this post is just what I needed today, this week, this month. It is so descriptive of the “American Dream” and so positive in tenor. I - and I bet others of your readers - actually wouldn’t mind if you reposted this about once per month for the unforeseen future.
IMHO: In the face of near constant negativity - coming at us from myriad directions; we could all benefit from this fantastic reminder of where we are and who we are on a regular basis.
Ok, this made me tear up. I hate them for what they have and are doing to this country. I know hate is a strong word and it is typically not part of my vocabulary. Until now. Biden and Dems should be saying this every time they speak. Thank you, Steve.