What is the American Dream? (The Institute on the American Dream)

Interrelations of Freedom-Equality-Success
by Charles Brock

 

Sources and Strivings

 

Time Period	Freedom	Equality	PA Successes
17th century	English Revolution    American settlement	Levelers Town Meeting	Seneca Tribe William Penn
18th century	American Revolution    Bill of Rights	Declaration of Independence French Revolution	Amish communities Benjamin Franklin
19th century	Civil War    Gettysburg Address	Women's Liberation Labor Movement	Andrew Carnegie John L. Lewis
20th century	World Wars    Four Freedoms	Multi-culturalism Affirmative Action	John D. Rockefeller Ida Tarbell
21st century	Human rights [1]    Refugees [4]	Family of Abraham [2] Respect for difference [5]	U.E.C.D. [3] C.O.R.E [6]

Some American Nightmares and Their Critics

• Fanaticism --- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
• Cover-up of poverty/racism --- M. L. King, Jr.
• Sell-out of Native Americans --- Vine Deloria, Jr.
• Rule by the rich --- Paul Klugman
• Arrogance of power --- Senator Robert Byrd
• Idolizing success --- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
• Materialism --- Sigmund Freud
• Health care --- Paul Farmer
• Cultural hegemony --- Bin Laden
• SUVs --- The Tappet Brothers

Some Examples of Local Dreams Come True

[1] Erie colleges; radical churches; Pax Christi
[2] Chautauqua Religion Dept; Smith Chapel interfaith worship
[3] Urban Erie Community Development; Behrend and Mercyhurst Erie institutes on economics
[4] International Institute; Pfieffler-Burleigh school etc
[5] Neighborhood Art House; Community Country Day School
[6] Center for Organizational Research & Evaluation – helping local groups get grants etc.