Half Truths About the American Dream

Posted by Bob Lord

Most of us recognize that the constant talk by Republicans and Democrats alike of America being the country of unlimited opportunity — where anyone who works hard can succeed financially — is mainly jingoistic crap. Perhaps it had merit 60 years ago, but not today. We’re not first in the world in economic mobility, or even second or third.

The criticism we do read of this talk typically is focused on how the growing class divide depresses economic mobility. See Paul Krugman’s column in today’s NY Times for an example of this. It’s a legitimate point, and one that should be made, repeatedly, until everyone’s paying attention. Without question, economic mobility is part of the American Dream. It’s an ideal worth fighting for, even if it requires a revolution (Occupy).

But that’s only half the story, and the other half isn’t really being told, at least not forcefully, probably because it’s seen as not politically correct to do so. Until that changes, however, the political discourse speaks only to one aspect of the American Dream, only calls out the conservatives on half their bullshit, and ultimately contributes to the destruction of the American Dream.

The other half of the story is that not everyone can be economically mobile. We’re all dealt a hand of cards in life. There are high cards — good looks, good health, intelligence, athletic ability, caring parents, family affluence, etc. — and there are of course low cards. The politically correct defenders of the American Dream (Krugman, for example) essentially make the point that the growing gap between the classes makes family affluence a trump card and makes it harder and harder for those in the lower class to play their high cards, particular the most commonly held high card, above average intelligence. And they’re right. As the class divide deepens, it gets harder and harder for the smart poor kid attending poorly funded public schools to obtain the education (and hence, the knowledge base) of the rich kid who has average intelligence but has access to tutors, coaches, private schools, rewarding summer camps, and perhaps even a legacy admission to a top school. Essentially, with the increased class divide, the family affluence high card more easily trumps the intelligence high card.

The problem with the politically correct discourse is that it ignores the plight of those Americans whose hand of cards does not include sufficient high cards, and there are tens of millions of them. Unless that changes, we’re only working to preserve part of the American Dream, the economic mobility part. The other part is that everyone in America, no matter how crummy a hand they’re dealt, can have a decent life. But we can’t address that part of the American Dream effectively unless we acknowledge, up front, that not everyone can be economically mobile. It just doesn’t work that way. If you don’t have some natural advantage, it’s almost impossible to climb the ladder of economic mobility.

And it has to be this way. At any given time, many people are going to be in lower end jobs, jobs that need to be done. It’s easy to say that a janitor can go to night school (dog tired and hungry, of course) and improve his lot in life, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have janitors. So, unless janitors (and Walmart workers, car wash workers, etc.) are paid a wage and receive benefits that allow them a comfortable, albeit modest, life, we deny the American dream to millions.

Most Americans, particularly most conservative Americans, including poor conservative Americans, are blind to this reality, and the singular focus on the economic mobility part of the American Dream fosters and perpetuates that blindness. I encounter this regularly with my golfing friends and other conservatives I know. They mean well. They point to the fact that I achieved my success by working hard in school, getting admitted to law school, and working hard in the practice of law. There are two alternative retorts to this meme. One, the economic mobility retort, would be to comment how much more difficult it would be for me if I were born today to a poor family. The other, the more uncomfortable retort, is to point out my other high cards — above average intelligence, tall, male, white, heterosexual, no physical handicaps, parents who valued education, etc., and note that many folks weren’t dealt such a hand. After all, those of us who succeeded in terms of economic mobility would far prefer to pat ourselves on the back for our hard work than to recognize that our success is mainly attributable to the hand of cards we drew at birth. Ironically, it reeks of conceit to humbly note how lucky you are to be born smart, rather than falsely attribute your success entirely to your hard work.

The cold reality is that even if we fixed the economic mobility decline of the last thirty years, many Americans will not climb the ladder no matter how hard they work. Yet those Americans deserve to share in the American Dream too. Their needs should be recognized. They shouldn’t go through life so embarrassed by the poor hand they were dealt that they feel it’s appropriate they not have a decent life. And, by the way, we’ve already reached the point where not only do lower and middle income Americans have a poor quality of life, they have less life as well, with a growing life expectancy gap between rich and poor.

Somehow, this dynamic needs to change. Until it does, we’ll still have millions voting against their own best interests, implicitly blaming themselves for not succeeding in the economic mobility game, rather than recognizing that no matter how hard they try their position on the economic ladder may not change, and that the distribution of wealth and income in America is radically unfair, having already reached the point that most Americans either are in poverty or one lost paycheck or one health issue away from it. That reality, which plays out every time some poor or lower middle class conservative votes against his best interest, is really what is killing the American Dream.