The American Dream is a mythology whose original meaning has shifted over the years.

Many people have misinterpreted the American Dream as something to which they were entitled.

The economic realities of today suggest that the standard American Dream is difficult to achieve.

There appears to be a movement prescribing an alternative path to realizing happiness and success.

For the past 60 years or so, Americans have been painfully expressing their belief that the American Dream has been fading away or has already disappeared. The Dream has continually been said to be in peril or extinct, a casualty of social, economic, and political forces that have made it difficult or impossible for the working class or middle class to get ahead. Action had to be taken, and taken quickly, this narrative has dictated, lest our great nation lose what made it special and unique from all others.

The Origin and Misinterpretation of the American Dream

Not typically mentioned in this story is the fact that the American Dream isn’t real and never has been. According to James Truslow Adams, who coined the term in his 1931 book The Epic of America, the American Dream was “a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank which is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the world.” Nowhere did Adams, a notable historian of his day, mention social........

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