Goodness, much has been
written about the American Dream. This phenomenon that
affects us all to a greater extent, the U.S.-born
citizens with their hopes for the future, a positive
attitude, and we first generation immigrants, on
everyday life, but also in our deep faith in the
future.
Spending most of my time between the French world
and the American universe through my work, my
family, my culture, I would say, that did I hear
about it. "Bullshit," "jokes", some claiming that
"Americans themselves do not believe in this term,
the American dream is long dead," most showing me
analyzes and arguments to move our dream to a single
capitalist propaganda. But what happens really ? Is
this dream dead ?, has it actually existed ? To see
thing a little more clearly, it’s necessary to focus
on the origin of the "American Dream".
Because whether some people like it or not, the
American dream is not just a capitalist invention to
attract people to be lulled by hope! And yes, this
American Dream is now the very foundation of
America, at its sources, on the initial project of
the founding fathers.
"How is that possible? ". Yes keep in mind one of
the original texts, the Bill of Right, our
"Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen”, who by the way is earlier than your
version but I guess this is another story. The
preamble of our social contract begins this way:
“We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
What is important in this text is that it differs
profoundly from your "Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen" on a principle that is
fundamental for us. If we agree on the life and
liberty, the US text adds a concept that is unique
to our culture: The pursuit of happiness, and here
we go the seed that will germinate the idea of the
American dream was planted. To understand this
concept you must take into account the spirit of the
same founding fathers. Contrary to what many
Europeans think, French first, our founding fathers,
Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, who met in the fall
of 1776 to agree on a constitution, went deep into
their expectations of their times but also those of
the future. They had lived repression in Europe,
religious intolerance, but they were especially
aware of the stormy history of intolerance in
European countries until their time. The founding
fathers were mostly great scholars, great spirits
for their time. They knew that their continent was
not just a dream of gold and silver but much more,
starting with Thomas Paine, landed in 1774 penniless
in New England, was full of optimism and possibility
to seek happiness. Because it’s really more an
opportunity to start all over again, this is the
foundation of the American Dream. The monetary or at
least the standard of living only applied at the end
of the Second World War when the Americans had a
higher standard of living than Europe, twice the
level.
If a certain ease of our system makes this dream
possible, it does not fully explain its spread so
widely as now. This expansion or rather diffusion as
I often like to remind it, comes from the true
nature of our country. The US has always been a
Métis nation from the start, a safe haven where
immigration from different cultures and backgrounds
keep succeeding. Primarily because the American
dream is for all the world, it’s general and so
personal because everyone has his own vision of
happiness. This can be money, religious or
otherwise. Generations come and go, cultures mix,
and all take over the concept, that is its strength.
The
search for happiness is a key principle for us.
Many times in our history, it was reminded to us.
It was reminded to us in the 30s by Franklin
Roosevelt during the Great Depression, when many
Americans being unemployed were deprived of their
quest for happiness. Each social protest, the
minorities, the protesters claim that they don’t
want to end the system like in Europe in May of
1968, but throw into highlight their exclusion
from the American dream, the impossibility to
pursue happiness. This was particularly true of
black in the 60s.
Black you say, let’s talk about the minorities
because as I frequently hear in France, "The
American Dream is fine, but it doesn’t speak about
the minorities, the millions of poor ..". And the
excluded people it’s true that there has been some,
but I think it’s necessary to return once again to
the founding fathers to explain some of these
excluded. As soon as the constitution is signed,
there were excluded people because being a free man
meant at the time to be white and a landlord, to be
rich. For those who welcome this American mentality
I answer them that this spirit prevailed as well in
Europe, particularly in England where being white
and a landlord was a major condition for the right
to vote in parliament. So of course this does not
excuse the exclusion that resulted, but all its
great minds that were the founding fathers, were
nevertheless men of their time, full of prejudices,
beliefs, their wrong too.
Were excluded from the very beginning, the poor,
women, Indians and black slaves. But if America was
tarnished with its exclusions, its history would
once again prove the fundamental attachment and
unequivocally of its people to its values, its draft
constitution. Because each time the excluded people
have only asked for one thing: that America is to be
faithful to its principles and meets its initial
project! These minorities have with their protests
demanded to have the right to life, liberty and
especially the right to the pursuit of happiness.
This was the case of the poor who had the right to
vote, blacks in 1868, women in 1920 and then ends
with the Indians in 1924. Sure it was perhaps not
entirely effective, or become part of everyday life,
but the time has not come to end this constitution,
the generations have invented amendments, texts to
add to the initial project with the evolution of the
values of the American culture, particularly to
expand the American dream to the categories of the
population that were excluded. In short it will be
less and less possible to be excluded on the land of
Jefferson. Of course you ask me if that dream is
still alive today? Why so many poor, excluded in
America?
Now
here is a very important point about America, the
project of the founding fathers, and the very
institutions of the USA, if they have to protect
and build prosperity for its own people, have not
the mission to protect the people against poverty.
Indeed, the main purpose for immigrants just off
the boat from Europe over the centuries was much
less to receive aid from the state than to be able
to conquer their own dreams on their own, and the
state was more than tolerant to enable them to
achieve their business. The many generations of
immigrants arriving in the US didn’t want to find
a strong government, those who were fleeing
precisely because of intolerance and poverty
problems. Capitalism and individualism made in USA
suited them. Then of course the various crises
that suffered the USA decreased more this wild
capitalism but the individualistic side remained
forever. Already, I hear many French saying
"Selfish," "I told you so, it's every man for
himself." In fact it’s a bit more complicated than
that. Individualism in the US does not mean so
much a desire to crush his neighbor than to be the
definition of freedom across the Atlantic. To sum
up this thought, one of the founding fathers,
Alexander Hamilton stated:
"Inequality will exist as long as liberty exists. It
unavoidably results from that very liberty itself. "
This principle is almost against the French
republican model. One where the individual is taken
as such, regardless of gender, age and religion, the
freedom to be free and equal before the law. In the
US, we recognize individuals as equal but freedom is
achieved with self-realization, our values. We are
free because we are ourselves, we are free thanks to
our difference from the other but united by the
project of our constitution. There isn’t really a
model because it depends on each individual, there
are many models. Then of course you say it doesn’t
excuse poverty, but no democracy, no currently
system is perfect and America has never prided
itself on wanting to be such a model. Of course it
can claims to be a model of wealth, political
stability, immigration, and we must admit that if
it’s not perfect, it has managed to keep much of its
claims. Besides the founding fathers themselves were
not looking for perfection, unlike other ideologies
that are thought to achieve results but have each
disappeared into oblivion.
The speech of Benjamin Franklin during the vote of
the constitution points in this direction:
« I confess that there are several parts of this
constitution which I do not at present approve (…)
For having lived long, I have experienced many
instances of being obliged by better information or
fuller consideration, to change opinions even on
important subjects (…) I agree to this Constitution
with all its faults, if they are such (…) I doubt
too whether any other Convention we can obtain may
be able to make a better Constitution. For when you
assemble a number of men to have the advantage of
their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with
those men, all their prejudices, their passions,
their errors of opinion, their local interests, and
their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a
perfect production be expected? It therefore
astonishes me (…) to find this system approaching so
near to perfection as it does (…). I consent, Sir,
to this Constitution because I expect no better, and
because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The
opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to
the public good. »
That’s why I
conclude with a positive affirmation that the American
dream is still possible, as long as you know what is
your dream. Today its persistence comes from the
universality to feel free and safe, to not be afraid
to practice their religion. To live a normal life,
while certainly not perfect, but to offer to his wife
and children what they need. The American dream still
persists today and has expanded over the centuries
because unlike ideologies, it’s relevant to the
average guy and especially the excluded people, poor,
minorities around the world, it’s outward looking and
not just to citizens of the United States of America.
This is the American dream that somewhere on our
planet, a continent doesn’t give a life insurance but
a possibility to live his or her life as they choose,
without any obstacle to what is most dear to its
people, freedom.
Sheppard
07/02/09
