Defining the Dream: 1978

"More than a third of U.S. families interviewed in a study . . . said they had lost faith in the American dream because of economic problems."

-ASSOCIATED PRESS *

Sounds like a great conference-I'm sorry I missed it. I think it would've been fascinating to hear exactly what the American Dream is that we're "starving" and "outsourcing" and need all of this extra money to pay for. I naively thought that ideas and dreams were free.

Obviously, those running a conference like that have a different definition of the Dream than our Founders did-but the only question that's really relevant is whom most Americans now relate to. After all, maybe those of us who think that the Dream is about opportunity are actually in the minority these days.

Defining the Dream: 1982

"Owning a home is one part of the American Dream that, for many people, is becoming just that-a dream."

-ASSOCIATED PRESS **

Defining the Dream: 1984

"American Dream Is Still Strong: A recent survey of 1,324 college students around the nation reveals that most of them dream of owning a home that is larger and more expensive than the home in which they grew up."

-SPARTANBURG (SC) HERALD JOURNAL **

Defining the Dream: 1988

"One grim general conclusion was shared by two studies of the U.S. economy this Labor Day: The American Dream is fading for many people, especially young couples, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

-UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL *

Jack Chambless, an economics professor at Valencia College, had 180 students in his sophomore class write essays on what they thought the American Dream meant. The results were not pretty: only around 10 percent thought that government should stay out of the way, have low tax rates, and deregulate to allow people to fulfill the dream. Ten percent. Over 80 percent thought that the American Dream meant a job, a house, retirement funds, vacations, and other material things. Eighty percent wanted the government to provide "free" health care, tuition, a down payment on their first home, and "a job." Oh, and to pay for it all, they wanted the government to tax the wealthy.

Those results are especially frightening when you consider that these sophomores are one day going to be parents. If they teach their kids that the Dream is about a free trip to the doctor's office or a low-interest government mortgage, then what hope do we have?

If you talk to older Americans, including immigrants, you get very different answers than what those sophomores came up with. When Xavier University surveyed over a thousand U.S. adults in 2011 they found that "only 6 percent of Americans ranked 'wealth' as their first or second definition of the American dream. Forty-five percent named 'a good life for my family,' while 34 percent put 'financial security'-material comfort that is not necessarily synonymous with Bill Gateslike riches-on top."

Taking It for Granted?

Here's one eye-opening result from Xavier's survey: "48% of immigrants rate the dream in 'good condition' compared to only 31% of the population overall."

Could it be that those of us who've been here for a while have become a little bit jaded on just how good things are and just how much opportunity there really still is in America compared to the rest of the world?

Even better: "Thirty-two percent of our respondents pointed to 'freedom' as their dream; 29 percent to 'opportunity'; and 21 percent to the 'pursuit of happiness.' A fat bank account can be a means to these ends, but only a small minority believe that money is a worthy end in itself."

That's great, and it makes me more optimistic-but why is that sentiment almost the exact opposite of everything we hear in the media and from most activist groups? Could it be that maybe the traditional version of the Dream doesn't rate on TV or bring enough people into conferences?

DON'T DEFINE IT, LIVE IT Hatred of the American Dream is as old as the Dream itself. There always have been, and always will be, people who innately believe that America is evil. These are usually the "intellectual" or, really, the "pseudo-intellectual" elites who spend most of their time feeling guilty for being born here. But you know something? The "American Dream" has never been for elite snobs. They've never figured it out. They never will. The "American Dream" is for the rest of us-the people who get up every day and work hard in order to create a better life for ourselves and our families.

The American Dream is also just that: uniquely American. We should be proud of the fact that most other countries don't even understand the concept of a Dream. For example, in 1959 IBM set up a large computer at an exhibit called the "American National Exhibition" in Moscow. The idea was to allow Russians to ask the computer questions about America and life over here.

Defining the Dream: 1993

"The American dream that we were all raised on is a simple but powerful one-if you work hard and play by the rules you should be given a chance to go as far as your God-given ability will take you."

-PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON *

After receiving nearly ten thousand inquiries from curious Russians, two stood out as being asked more than any other: What is "the price of a pack of American cigarettes and [what is] the meaning of the 'American dream'?"

Imagine that-of all the questions you could ask about America, these Russians wanted to know what "the Dream" was. Not how to get it, or how many had achieved it, or how they could get it-no, even that was too advanced-they didn't even understand the concept of a Dream.

Defining the Dream: Celebrity Edition

In 2007, Forbes asked a number of celebrities and politicians, "What is the American Dream?"

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi answered that "[t]he American Dream is the hope for a better future with equal opportunity for all to participate in the prosperity and success of our great nation." That's a pretty good answer; you'll have to excuse me for not believing that it's what she really believes.

Writer P. J. O'Rourke answered that the "Pursuit of happiness is the distinctly American Dream, proclaimed front and center in our Declaration of Independence. You'll find no such aspiration announced in the credo of any other nation, state, society or people."

But leave it to a nonpolitician, non-elite to deliver the best answer. Olympics figure skater Sasha Cohen hit it out of the park when she said: "To me, the American Dream is something deep inside that drives you to be who you are."

The American Dream, like real dreams, can't be defined or explained by anyone but you.

(By the way, the IBM computer answered them like this: "That all men shall be free to seek a better life with free worship, thought, assembly, expression of belief and universal suffrage and education.") We all know that America has changed, and sometimes it's easy to fall into the trap of feeling that things are somehow different than they ever have been before; that no other generation of Americans endured a terrible economy, a terrible job market, an enormous price tag for education, and a declining view of their future, all at once. But that's just not true-every generation has its battles, many of which seem insurmountable at the time. And while they always feel unique, the truth is that life is a series of ups and downs. If we tossed aside the Dream every time there was a down period, then it would never have made it out of the 1700s.

Here's a column from John Cunniff that I think proves my point: What seems to be missing from the lives of many Americans is the dream-the vision that tomorrow could only be better, the soul-deep conviction that they would participate in the future.

Like a kite flying out ahead, the dream tugged the dreamer into a new material reality: a new house, more money, education, a second car, a color TV set.

All through the last decade families found that it paid to dream because there was an excellent chance of turning dreams into reality. America was always on the verge of something exciting.

The credit suppliers realized that money was needed to translate the dream, and so they made the down payment smaller, the terms easier. Buy now, pay later.

The stock market was like an elevator, lifting many people to new financial achievements. Everyone was playing the game.

Do you think that was written this year? Or maybe in 2010?

Nope, it was written in 1974.

Defining the Dream: 2011

"[W]e should have no doubt about the American dream. For four centuries, it has rested on the idea that government should do all it can to narrow the divide between those at the top and those at the bottom of society."

-NICOLAUS MILLS, PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN STUDIES, SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE *

The Dream survived the 1970s and all the pessimism that op-ed captured. It survived-and, at times, flourished, in the 1980s and '90s. The turn of the century brought us a collapse, a recovery, and another collapse. And so here we are again, another crossroads in time; another chance to fall for the seductive rhetoric of those like Van Jones who say that the Dream is turning into "the American nightmare." With each downturn in the economy, there are seemingly fewer and fewer who are willing to stand up, dig in their heels, and remind everyone that the Dream is not something that can be owned. It can't be bought or sold, reclaimed or refurbished. You can't give it away, take it back, tear it to shreds, or outsource it.

You can't do any of those things because the American Dream that is packaged up and served to us by the press and our politicians is a lie.

The truth is that there is only one thing that you can do with whatever you define your American Dream to be: live it.

"So today I say to the cartels: Don't even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this border. You will be met by an overwhelming response."

-Janet Napolitano, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, January 2012 THE DECADES we've spent arguing about immigration reform and border security have resulted in a lot of accusations of hate and racism-but very little progress. Unfortunately, while we've been yelling and screaming at each other we've created a vacuum-and you know how the old saying goes: "Mexican drug cartels abhor a vacuum."

There is a national emergency brewing on our side of the border. A war, actually. It's already in full swing just to our south, where at least 34,000 people have died in the last five years-15,000 last year alone (though, let's be honest, it's hard to count the dead accurately when bodies are burned or put into buckets of quicklime so that they are impossible to identify). Despite all of that, along with the obvious national security implications for America, our only strategy seems to be to issue stern warnings to the cartels about how serious we'll get if the violence crosses some imaginary line in the sand.

It's time for a new strategy. This is not about stopping illegal immigration or coming up with that elusive "comprehensive immigration reform" bill-it's about stopping the culture of drugs and violence that has become almost routine. And it all starts by doing what the media and most politicians would prefer not to: telling Americans the truth about what is really going on along our southern border.

A BAD TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.

What do thousands of Chinese immigrants, a Mexican woman, and heroin have in common? No, this isn't a "so-and-so walks into a bar" joke. The truth is that, together, they formed the foundation of drug trafficking in Mexico, dominating its history for almost seventy years.

Back in the 1860s, the Chinese started to arrive in Mexico in droves to serve as railroad and agricultural workers. No one knew it at the time, but these workers would change the course of Mexico's history by bringing with them a seemingly innocuous crop: the opium poppy. It turns out that poppies grow remarkably well in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountain range, and particularly well in the state of Sinaloa, where the Chinese population exploded at the turn of the century.