The American Dream

Fear is the antithesis of faith. Something that I hear over and over again these days is that we should be afraid. Afraid of bankruptcy, afraid of another Depression, afraid of the government, our neighbors, foreclosure, etc. The list is endless. This fear is used to rule over us.

The general effect of unrelenting bad news is that we're afraid, but we're not sure of what. The worst part of living in fear is that we refuse to define what we are afraid of. Think of a young couple, living and working, who don't budget or take the time to discuss their finances. They use their credit cards. Sometimes they pay them off, other times they don't. They pay the bills when they think of them, but some are inevitably missed. This hypothetical couple are afraid to look at the current state of their financial lives. They are terrified to think about where they are going. So they bury their heads in the sand, and they are miserable.

I know this because my wife and I were that couple just a handful of years ago. We made a series of reactionary decisions, based out of fear, doubt, and intellectual laziness. We dug ourselves into a terrible rut, and it was only after we began to define what we'd been afraid of that we discovered how much hope the future holds.

You see, the most insidious element of fear is that it paralyzes us. When we let fear rule our lives we refuse to take positive action. Yet, if we can overcome that paralysis, then we discover that salvation often lays within our reach.

What does this have to do with the American Dream? It's simple. I was taught that the American Dream meant that every single man, woman, and child, who lived in America, if they worked hard, saved their money, and moved forward in faith, they could give their children the opportunity to also live free from bondage. We are losing this Dream, and I will show you why.

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." In order to show how these three words define the American Dream, let me substitute three near synonyms for them, in order to show you what the Dream is not. "Health, Security, and Contentment."

You see, the danger that faces each of us today isn't destruction from the forces of terrorism. It isn't even economic depression or internal revolution. The danger is that our America will only survive on the premise that each man is free to fail of his own volition. If we allow ourselves to believe that we can have profit without loss, gain without risk, hope without danger, then we have deceived ourselves. The danger we face is that we have asked our government to insure our prosperity.

Our politicians, for they are ours, regardless of how reprehensible their actions are, we chose them. Our politicians have made a great many fiscal and legal promises over the last 80 years. We asked them to, no, we demanded these promises. Well, we must now reap what we have sown. The American Dream is at risk today because we chose to take from our children so that we might have a handout today. For an analysis of the legacy we are giving our children, see: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08783r.pdf.

Remember what Alexis de Tocqueville said: "The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."

What will you do to make sure that the American Republic endures? What will you do to provide your children with the opportunity to live the American Dream?