Reconciling the American Dream with the Least Among Us

[Bond]

I am currently enrolled in a seminar class this semester that meets every Wednesday night for two and a half hours. The class is called "Diversity Dialogues." As juniors, we take the class during our spring semester, and teach (more so facilitate) the class to freshman during the fall semester of our senior year. It's a very small class (thirteen students, probably in part because it is limited to honors students), which is a rarity for a university as large as ours. The discussions are often very lively, and the two professors that run the course are not afraid to debate along with us. The class has a decidedly left-of-center tilt, but I have enjoyed this as it has challenged the views I brought into the class, and certainly widened my perspective on the issues of diversity and privilege that impact our country.

A major issue that I raised during our last discussion that we were not able to resolve was the title of this thread: how do we reconcile the American Dream with the least among us? Allow me to explain what I mean.

The American Dream is at the core of our shared experience as Americans. Whether you view it as an unattainable myth or some thing that can be achieved seems inconsequential to me, as it runs so deep through our culture - it is our culture. The American Dream was first formally expressed (minus the Declaration of Independence, which may be debatable) by James Truslow Adams in 1931, in which he said that any citizen can achieve a "better, richer, and happier life." It seems to me as though, within this definition of the American Dream, comes the baggage that some citizens will succeed, while others will fail. In fact, our "capitalist" economy is built on a series of winners and losers that writes a history in which only the winners are remembered. While I do think this has led to great prosperity, and probably more successes than failures, it is not without its costs, which leads me to the least among us.

It seems as though our ability to achieve the American Dream is predetermined by our rank of privilege within our society. Let me give you a personal example. I am currently studying for the LSAT, with aspirations to attend law school after my undergraduate studies are completed, and hopefully lead a successful legal career when all is said and done. Within this dream is the distinct possibility that I will fail. Perhaps I flunk the LSAT, my grades begin to decline, and I become a drunkard. All of this is within the realm of possibility. What happens to me? Well, I go back to live with my parents, of course.

Doing so would place little-to-no financial burden upon them, and I am confident that they would welcome me back with open arms. It is this confidence and privilege that gives me the ability to take the risk to pursue my dreams that I am taking. But, this is only because I am above the threshold that dictates whether or not I can take these sorts of risks.

I believe this threshold boils down to the question: if someone fails at his or her dream, is there a place they can unconditionally turn (whether it be family or close friends) that will take them back, and also not incur excessive financial hardship due to their arrival?

The least among us, largely due to predetermined financial situations that most have little to no control over, do not have this luxury or privilege. They cannot take these risks as readily as we can. They do not have the safety net of the aforementioned threshold.

So, in sum, my question is this: how can we reconcile the American Dream with the least among us? Is it even possible? Should we even care to?