The American Dream Speech
Essay by kikiki00 • April 26, 2019 • Presentation or Speech • 1,337 Words (6 Pages) • 886 Views
Good morning students, thank you for letting me speak here today,
My name is XX XXXXX, some of you might already know who I am, as I am one of your fellow students here at John Hopkins University.
Today’s talk will be about how the American Dream has changed over time. Firstly, I would like to account on different perceptions of the American Dream and also give some comments on some of these perceptions. I will be ending this speech by discussing what it takes to achieve the American Dreams in today’s America.
Let us start from the very beginning.
The term “the American Dream” was invented by historian James Truslow Adams in 1931. He defined the American Dream as “to be living in a country of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable[1].” This dream of being able to work hard and make a good living for yourself, without any favouritism, did not only interest Americans. Many people came from far away to have their shot at obtaining the American Dream. The focus of the American Dream was on Individual freedom, self-reliance, equality of opportunity, competition, material wealth and hard work. These values are what characterized America throughout many years, but somewhere along the line, things changed.
Today, a lot of people have lost their belief in the American Dream as they have seen it work only for those who already have a high standard of living, as one of Trump's voters said, "there's no American Dram for anyone who isn't a lawyer or banker[2].”
This change can be explained by the economic change that has affected America. At the beginning of the American dream, America had one of the biggest if not the biggest economy of the world[3]. This caused many companies to outsource their fabrics to be able to increase their price competition even more. What they did not take into consideration was that by getting rid of their factories, they also got rid of a lot of the middle-class people’s jobs, which caused an immense growth in poverty.
Today there is no doubt that the American Dream no longer seem to exist for everyone. If we, for example, look at our own city, Baltimore. Many tourists will describe it being a booming, colourful city with a beautiful harbour and quirky neighbourhoods. What they don’t see is that behind those beautiful enriched neighbourhoods, there lays a great number of abandoned houses, with families living in-between them because they have been forced to out of their homes as they are not able to pay their bills with their daily amount of 30$. For them today’s America has no opportunities, their hope has developed into despair.
This is the reason as to why many, especially middle-class people, decided to vote for Trump. He promised them that he would make sure they got their jobs back and again would be able to care for their families and chase their dreams. He would make all of this possible by big tax-cuts and one of the biggest tax-reform America has known.
But where there are those that have lost all hope, there are still many believing the American Dream is still alive and well. One of them is Joel Contartese, an American immigrant and entrepreneur. He proclaims that if you: believe that you can "do what you want, when you want, with whomever you want." You will be able to enable yourself to become successful with those who empower you standing next to you. Because if you fight for your aspirations, roll with the punches and are not scared of taking unconventional paths, America will make your dreams come true.
Only 20% of Americans, who say they are living the American Dream. Hearth Insight’s report shows that the most import element of showing that you are living the American dream is that you are able to own a house. This is especially because of the high prices of homes in America. The rapport also shows that it is mostly millennials that few owning at home is a symbol of success, as it also shows that you have their financial situation under control, and are able to overcome struggles as today’s millennials were faced with the worst recession in American history[4].
Where some think that the American Dream includes favouritism Contartese thinks that as long as you work hard enough you will be able to make your dream come through. In some way, I do agree with him that if you really want something you need to fight hard for it. But what I do think is important to include here, is that the road to success will be shorter for those coming from wealth compared to those from poverty. You could compare it to rich people being able to take the highway directly to their dreams, where people coming from poverty must take gravel paved roads, with holes and roadblocks in their way. They will eventually end up in the same place, but it will take them double the amount of time and triple the amount of determination and willpower for those who have to take the gravel-paved road.
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