We're not experiencing the end of the American Dream, we're experiencing the end of a consumption-based pyramid scheme that was labeled as the American Dream. Labeling cod liver oil as syrup doesn't make it syrup and certainly doesn't make it taste any better! Labels can be misleading though and if we don't scrutinize labels, we can be conned.
The American Dream was not to be a cog in a consumption machine, it was quite the opposite - moving far away from being a cog in someone else's wheel. The American Dream was about freedom, from being locked into a certain place in society, from tyranny and oppression. It was
about opportunity, the opportunity to have your own home, to raise your children in a safe environment, to give them an education. It was about opportunity, the opportunity to start your own business and create something that a family could build together. Many American Dreams were about families being together.
There was nothing in the American Dream about selling yourself into wage slavery so that you could spend your lifetime acquiring ever-increasing amounts of stuff. That's not the American Dream, that's the American manufacturers', marketers' and advertizers' dream - a veneer label placed over the American Dream.
What's happened during this economic 'crisis' is the cracking of that veneer which attempted to cover up the strength and enduring core values of the American Dream. That weak veneer could never withstand the test of time, and broke under pressure.
However, when you push aside the pieces of that crumbled veneer, you find the original dream underneath. It's reemerging once again. People are returning to those core values, that strong foundation that is the American Dream - freedom, family, friends and the opportunity to build something (and not just make a buck).
The American Dream hasn't ended, the American consumption dream has. The two aren't the same at all.
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