Monday, February 23, 2015

The American Dream

I was not able to open the article that was online so I figured that I should just do the blog on the two readings in, They Say I Say. I will fix it later. In the article, "Hiding From Reality" by Bob Herbert explains why he believes that the American Dream does not exist anymore. He believes that this is caused by many things like many Americans not being able to get jobs, fighting a war that we can not afford to fight, and people getting taxed. The economy is slowly falling apart and unless America fixes it, it is just going to keep getting worse. It will take many years to fix the economy even we do start now.  In the article, " Is the American Dream Over?" by Cal Thomas talks about how he thinks that the American Dream is not caused by the economy , but by the eclipse of liberalisms (government). Due to people encroaching, over-taxing, over-spending, and over-regulating government. He believes that liberals and their policies lead us in a path that is hard to get out of. Thomas believes that if you believe in the government helping you succeed in life, your head is in the wrong place. He does not think the government will help someone. He thinks that if you have faith, stay in school, get married and live the life you want to live then you are living the American Dream. You basically should be setting an example for other people by doing good things. According to Herbert if the economy provides jobs for individuals who do not have jobs and want to work and quit with the budget cuts to help our economy we will be better off in trying to achieve the American Dream. The economy also needs to stop giving so much money to the wealthy. I think if we went with what Herbert believes the people could succeed in living the American Dream. It takes more then the peoples faith and trying to achieve their goals in order to achieve the American Dream. It goes much deeper then hope and faith.

5 comments:

  1. Yeah I was also having a lot of problems trying to open the article from TRACS. And I also agree completely about how we as people need to do more that just have hope and faith to achieve the American dream. I think that we all should put an effort and work hard for it and make this place safe and sound for our future generations to come. In the article “Hiding from Reality” the author, Bob Herbert explains how the U.S. needs “resurrection” of the American Dream. What he means by that is that the United States should provide a decent job for all who want to work hard with a nice salary that will make them and their families have a nice standard of living. In the next article from Cal Thomas “Is the American Dream over?”, the author basically is responding to what Bob Herbert essay regarding the American Dream. Cal Thomas agrees with some points that Herbert points out about it but he also has some disagreements with him about the economy. Thomas does not believe in the government and who ever does is wrong. He believes that a person should should just live a basic life and follow the rules of life to achieve the american dream, which is to study, attend school, avoid drugs and illegal stuff, getting married before having kids, staying married to provide a good example for the next generations and so on.

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  2. The American dream is dead. As our economy gets worse and worse so do we. I would have to agree that we are getting the short end of the stick or the last one to the food bowl. Our parents had it better than us 40-50 years ago. But since we as a newer generation is losing opportunity and leg room in our society. College is only getting more expensive and also living expenses. There isnt honestly anything we can do in my opinion since we have a hole in our back pocket. as social classes are losing the medium class poverty is increasing. And so our wishes and desires are burning at the stake. Cause of course you can't do anything without money. Family owned businesses and new businesses are being shut down without a chance to even survive. Plus i am sure that every college kid is having a tough decision about what they want to be in life because job opportunity is so down to the needy greedy. But overall its dead. so sad so sad.

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  3. I also agree with everyone’s response on the blog. Our main goal in life should not be based on living the luxurious American dream. Of course it’s good to have a lot of fine things in life, but living with too much wealth and happiness can lead many people in act to become more selfish. In “hiding from reality” by Bob Herbert, he explains the “recession” or “resurrection” in the United States. Meaning that our country needs to make improvements so that the upcoming generation will not be affected. He always mentions the idea of greater equality. For example, he states that the U.S. needs to develop a full-employment economy that provides jobs for all who want a decent standard of living. In “Is the American Dream Over” by Cal Thomas he intentionally responds to what Bob say about the American dream. Although Thomas agrees with some points that Herbert mentions, Thomas states that the creation of the government is out of control and it’s the reason why it’s preventing the fulfillment of the original American dream. In my opinion being a positive and successful individual will get you far in life. Always keep and open mind and inspire yourself and other to be greater than they was yesterday. Living the American dream may not be for everyone but anybody can be successful.

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  4. I agree with this. The people in america shouldn't always be constantly worrying about having the name brand or the most expensive. We need to improve our way of thinking and try to make sure everyone has happiness. I think the wealth people in the US should give more to homeless and to other people than organizations. Also the economy is so bad because we keep making budget cuts instead creating more jobs. If we do this than more spending will be done by the american people and this will cause money to circulate which after some years will start to make a better economy. Equality is what I hope we can achieve but at the same time I feel like everyone needs to work for. If you don't have a job which you should if we create more jobs than you shouldn't receive the benefits.

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  5. I agree with all that’s been said. I think the American dream today has now become more of a material thing. Who has the fastest car, biggest house, and nicest clothes is all people tend to care about now. Instead of just living a happy life, providing for your family, and having a stable living environment people always look for outdoing the next person like life is a competition. In “Hiding from Reality” by Bob Herbet, he explains that the U.S. needs “resurrection” to re define the idea of the American Dream and how we view it today. He also brings up the idea of greater equality throughout America and how he believes it’s fair for everyone to be provided with jobs with they want one. In “Is the American Dream Over” by Cal Thomas, he agrees with Bob’s point of view but disagrees as well. The difference between the two authors is that Thomas firmly believes that the main source of the problem is not the economy but the government. Thomas believes that having good faith, staying in school, and getting married is the foundation of living out the American dream properly. However, not all people need to do these things to be happy with themselves and their life. Overall I think the two authors have some valid points, some I agree with and some I don’t. The American Dream that was once known to be such a beautiful thing now is defined differently among every person you ask, some have the chance to achieve and some never will.

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