The American Dream

According to the Library of Congress, the American Dream is for every person in America to have equal and fair opportunity to fulfill his or her full potential, and be rewarded accordingly without discrimination. One of the benefits of the American Dream is that everyone has a fair chance to earn prosperity and pursue happiness. Another benefit of the American Dream is that everyone can be recognized by their achievements and who they are, regardless of race, gender, or social status. The American Dream has helped people to have a happy and successful life without economic pressure. Although there are still several negative aspects. For instance, the estimated twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States came to this country to pursue their American Dream. However, this has caused significant negative impact of fair chance to American Dream. For example, crime, rate and poverty levels are often much higher around of neighborhood of illegal immigrants. Public schools are short of funding because illegal immigrants often do not pay tax, but their children share public school resources. The list can go on and on. This concept of American Dream hurts many Mexican as a group because many of them crosses border and came into US illegally. And their children often live in poverty. American Dream has changed greatly over the years. At the time when James Truslow Adams wrote in his book The Epic of America, the American Dream was mainly for everyone to gain equality without class separation or race/gender discrimination, and freedom of religion. Overtime, American Dream has changed to the pursuit of wealth and prosperity for most the population. Owning vehicles and having a house became people’s goals, rather than fair chance and equal opportunities. The American Dream has not been attainable to everyone throughout time, it is still mostly accessible to individuals of hard work, sometimes fortune, or reputation.