I had the privilege this past summer of taking a trip out to the Left Coast. My journey to Vancouver put me back in touch with a Canadian friend who studies political theory at the University of Victoria. She's on track to become a world-renowned professor and theorist, so I take her opinion with much more than a grain of salt. During our reunion, we had a number of fruitful discussions about something near and dear to both of our hearts: politics, of course. But one conversation that we had, one that provoked a great deal of debate and disagreement between us, has stuck with me to this day.
This is most certainly the case because the gravity of the question at hand is so critical to both the history and the future of this country. And we have been warned about reaching this point in the past. As Benjamin Franklin was waltzing out of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia circa 1787, a group of onlookers stopped him and asked him what sort of government the delegates had created. Franklin almost ominously forebode: "A republic, if you can keep it." Keeping it, especially lately, has proven to be the hard part.
What we discussed was the nature of what is traditionally called "The American Dream." When this phrase is uttered, people are typically referring to the efforts of American citizens and immigrants to improve their condition and become more socially mobile. It is the fundamental narrative, the foundation on which our nation has been constructed. A place of freedom and opportunity where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you will get ahead. It just takes a little elbow grease and a dash of entrepreneurial spirit to open up your own business, or move up the corporate ladder, or join a union to increase your pay rate in the factory in order to provide your children with a lifestyle a little better than your own. Indeed, each generation should prosper based on what the previous generation has accomplished. Hard work built on hard work, new freedoms gained through individual sacrifice. Personal responsibility leading to both personal and collective accomplishment.
Conservatives love this story. In fact, it is often the only story they wish to be told. But it is only half of the tale, and that was the crux of our debate. Carly (my friend) told me she fundamentally disagrees with the American Dream narrative and how many people use it improperly, as she sees it.
Carly made a strong, extremely compelling argument (indeed, I fear she may be right) that leaders use The Dream- and its slant toward personal responsibility, above all - to excuse away social ills such as poverty, drug abuse and welfare dependence as being solely the fault of the individual. The use of this narrative allows leaders to shirk their responsibilities for empowering and uplifting communities by using their power to eliminate many of the structural impediments to social mobility that the poor and working classes face in our country. Beyond the way that some of our leaders abuse The Dream narrative, individuals who buy into it and accept it as the whole truth are adversely affected, as they blame themselves almost completely for their perceived inability to succeed rather than exploring the systemic barriers to prosperity that exist for so many like themselves.
Rather than this dream, Carly tells me, we need a more realistic, less fantastic appraisal of whether or not and how individuals can be socially mobile within our societies. To her, there is no point in selling the story unless it is true for everyone who embraces it.
But here, and in my rebuttal to my friend, is where the other half of that short story I told just above lies. The Dream is one part personal responsibility and one part collective action. The Dream works because we realize at some point, as a nation, that looking out only for yourself only takes you so far, and that everyone can collectively go farther when we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. In this sense, our ability to unite, share and empower each other makes it all the more possible for individuals to latch onto the bandwagon of prosperity and be pulled along for the ride. That's the element that's been missing lately and the part of the story that is not being told. This is the portion of the narrative that has gone unattended to and therefore makes outside observers (and inside ones like you and I) question the veracity of this tale we have been told since we were in diapers.
In concrete terms, we are talking about allowing more workers to unionize and collectively bargain for better terms of employment, raising the federal minimum wage to a reasonable, living wage standard, creating more jobs in the burgeoning renewable energy sector, ensuring that all Americans have equal opportunity to receive an excellent education and top-flight healthcare and so much more.Collective responsibility enhances personal responsibility.
But every time progressives bring up issues of class and inequality, the other side screams, "Class warfare!" Well, you're damn right it's class warfare! And conservatives are the ones on the offensive! It is my fear that more and more people will cease believing in the fundamental truth that underlies The Dream - that most people can get ahead if they work hard and play by the rules - as this administration, conservative-leaning Congress and Supreme Court continue to wage their war on the middle and working classes. These folks, so often labeled as the "backbone of America" by the fair-weather elites who beg for their votes every few years, are crying out for a return to the conditions that makes this dream less of a vicious lie and more of a reality. As it once was.
So we should take a moment and reflect on the doubts that we and others outside this country are having about the very nature of this narrative that we have so voraciously constructed and marketed. We should ask ourselves how accessible we want it to be and what form it should take. Because, after all, it is our Dream - if we can keep it.
Paul Perry is a senior in the School of International Studies and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
