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What is the American Dream


            When I think of The American Dream, the first thing that comes to mind is the principles on which our country was founded. But if I had to distill it to a single word, it would be "freedom-. It was the promise of freedom that initiated the first migrations from Europe that populated the original colonies. Since then, wave after wave of immigrants from around the world have flocked to our shores "all seeking the promise of freedom and its many fruits. The result is one of the world's most culturally and intellectually diverse societies, and one that has arguably become the most powerful and wealthy nation on earth. However, generation after generation, the American Dream and the American way of life have become quite different from what they once were. Taking their freedoms for granted, people have perverted "the pursuit of happiness- into the pursuit of material wealth, adding a further "liberty- of doubtful value: the liberty to do "whatever it takes."" The result of this philosophy is a society in which new freedoms are invoked to attain riches: the freedom to lie, the freedom to cheat, the freedom to steal "in short, the freedom to trample the rights of others. Consider recent history: the Enron, Worldcom and Tyco scandals, which cost thousands of people their jobs, and many thousands more their pensions and lifetime savings. The exploitation of new immigrants by fast-food corporations paying substandard wages. The outrageous compensation packages paid to CEOs of failing companies and much, much more. We see this everywhere, in our government, economy, basic morals, civil liberties, and foreign policy; it is only through adapting our policy of individual responsibility to democracy that we may save the American Dream, the American way of life, and in effect "America itself. .
             Can anyone really run for office in the U.S. government? Does the majority really rule in America? It is clear that America's government has not stayed "for the people, by the people-, because its citizens are not making decisions, and majority does not rule.


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