The American Dream, Myth or Reality?
The United States of America, the land of opportunities.
When the Vikings discovered America during the tenth century, they didn’t stay for long. The natives who lived there weren’t willing to share their country, so the Vikings left. Some centuries later, in the late fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus discovered America, and this was the first visit of lasting importance. When the first settlers moved to America, they had to do everything by themselves. Being able to work hard, and being self-sufficient early became important American values, and still is today. The American Dream is an ideal created by the settlers who wanted more people to move to America. Everyone who moved there would be given a chance to live a great life, and because new settlers would be given 164 acres of land, a mass movement of people started, mostly from Europe. The American Dream is mostly about that everyone has the same chances of freedom, prosperity and success. You should be able to have social upward mobility, and your
…show more content…
The top five percent doesn’t even show up on the chart, and the middle class is almost as poor as the actual poor. The top 1%, has a chart of his own, 40% of the net income of the US, goes to the top 1%. The American Dream might be for some people, but those are the people who have rich parents or grandparents. No matter if you’re smart, if there’s a less smart kid who has a better education than you, because he’s got rich parent who can afford it, he will get the jobs. If you are black, things are even worse. In 2007, there were 7 million companies in the US, and black people owned only 7% of them2. In the government of the US, the old American values are still very important. No one should be suppressed by the state, and everyone has the same chances. The problem is that what the government should be doing, protecting the people, is not what they are