Working Families and the American Dream

Happy Fourth of July! America’s Independence Day is a good day to think about the American Dream—a concept rich in hope and power, but one that is sometimes lost amongst concerns over the economic downturn and dusty job market. An excerpt from Thomas A. Kochan’s Restoring the American Dream highlights a chance to return to that dream.

“Since the French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in the 1830s, we have been told that Americans are a highly pragmatic people, capable of rolling up their sleeves and working together without much concern for class, ideology, religion, or even race and gender to find workable solutions to whatever problems we face. It is this pragmatic determination, respect for each other, and willingness to work together for the common good that must be restored…

So what can be done? The central message here is that the solutions must start with ourselves—with working families taking the steps needed to raise our voices so we can restore faith in the American dream, if not for ourselves, then for our children. Why? Because these problems are too important to leave, as we have in recent decades, to the ‘market.’…We need to return to a strategy that has served America well in the past—empowering those closest to the problems to invent solutions that work for them.”