What is 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; Pfeiffer-Burleigh school etc
[5] Neighborhood Art House; Community Country Day School
[6] Center for Organizational Research & Evaluation – helping local groups get grants, etc.