[Professor S]

The American Dream is not a myth. The fact is that most of the wealthy people in America are self-made/nouveau riche (came from relatively humble beginnings), and not a result of generational/aristocratic wealth. This is a myth pasted on to American society that was held over from European wealth structure and the writings of Marx and Engels, whose observations tended to be of Eurpean wealth structures. Also, most of the West was settled not by the rich, but by settlers looking to carve out their piece of the American Dream themselves. They took it upon themselves to take the US up on their ofer of land and tread into the great unknown seeking their fame and fortune. They are not to be derided, but celebrated for their sheer audacity.

Also, we have to define what the American Dream really is. After all, I'm sure many people who say they'll never "make it" likely have an iPhone in their pocket and a car. For previous generations a modest house and a car in every garage was the dream. Now people think they failed if they didn't get featured on My Super Sweet Sixteen on MTV.

There are just too many examples of people making the American Dream, whatever that may be, come true for it to be myth. Our ducation levels have never been higher (can be accredited to the GI Bill and government grants/loans) and wealth, even with the recession, has skyrocketed over time for every income level. Now is the American Dream more difficult for the poor (I refuse to call them the "least of us", that is insulting)? Undoubtedly, but no one said that everyone is the same, only that we have the equal opportunity under the law, not under the fairness. We would all love for everyone in the world to have the same starting point in life, but that will never happen whether by chance (status/wealth at birth) or by act of God (intelligence and health level).

We have done more to try and create a culture of fairness over the last 50-80 years with continued and expanding social and wealth redistribution programs and the end result is that we are a culture that has never felt more helpless and unhappy, and as KG shows more and more of us believe that the American Dream is a myth that some people just will never attain.

Me? I tend to agree with Michael Corleone from The Godfather... "Contempt for wealth is a trick played by the rich on the poor to ensure they never have it." The more the poor are convinced they'll never have anything, the less people the rich have to worry about competing with them. Even look at our tax structure. As we have gone forward to make the ideal of "fairness" a law and created taxes that punish and redistribute rather than encourage new wealth, it has made the American Dream harder and harder to attain. Now if you HAVE money and can hire tax, financial and legal counsel you can avoid paying most of the punitive taxes... but hey, thats for THEM not for YOU. It takes money to keep money in our current government.

If everyone would stop pining over everyone else, and start pining over their own condition, I think the world would be in a much better state and we wouldn't have a generation growing up thinking they have no hope unless the government spoon-feeds it to them atop an infant's high chair.