Virtual Happiness

Post-War Paradise

The American Dream. It became a slogan and mindset after the American’s won World War II. The horror and scale of destruction left a nasty imprint on so many young soldiers' minds, that they wanted to comfort and security when they got home. They wanted to all but forget all the dark and horrific scenes that were played out in front of them overseas daily.

* Due to the need for mass-produced weapons and supplies, the United States was left with thousands of factories that needed to be retrofitted and could easily make peace-time products, along with millions of workers who were well-trained in assembly line work.

* With millions of soldiers coming back home, plenty of available jobs, and G.I. bill education opportunities, the economy boomed.

Marketing the Dream

The post-world War II economy had an insatiable appetite for products. Homes with white picket fences, prefabricated homes, planned communities, cars, dish soap, oven mitts. The American Dream was given to us in the form of crafty TV commercials and slick salesmen telling us that we will find bliss knowing that we will come home, our wives cooking up a delicious meal, and the kids playing with Dad or watching cartoons while Dad reads the paper and Mom cleans up. There was a deep psychological need for soldiers to have peace, comfort, and predictability, a far cry from the uncertainty and terror of war.

This created and perpetuated the company culture, where employees valued loyalty to their employers, often for life, and retirement being a cookie-cutter solution of golf courses and retirement living. Much of this was driven by the American entrepreneurial philosophy, which has been an integral part of American culture since the Colonial period. It was this idea that became my America, part of my spirit. I am a Polish immigrant who arrived here at the mere age of two. My parents, Communist refugees seeking a better future for my sister and me. Along these lines, they run their own business to this day, which prompted me to be self-employed. I became successful, owned a beautiful home, and achieved that dream. But, I didn’t find long-term happiness there. The real dream is inside you, it’s inside me. It’s inside all of us. The truth is that the things we call the American Dream are really the tools and the journey, not the destination.

What is the Dream?

The American Dream has meant many different things to different people. Hunter S. Thompson searched for it. He investigated the Hippie subculture to see if they found the American Dream. He rode with the Hell’s Angels to experience their version of freedom. In the acid subculture, he found the limitations imposed upon the hippies caused by the very drugs that were supposed to free their minds and liberate them. He searched for his dream, but did he ever truly find it? We may never know.

Every generation had a dream. During the colonial period, people dreamed of not being ruled under a monarchy anymore, where they had no vote or say in taxes or other business matters. The revolution and subsequent birth of a nation gave rise to the entrepreneurial spirit, integral to the American Dream to this day.

The 19th Century made the dream a push West, coined “Manifest Destiny,” which gave Americans “a sense of mission to redeem the Old World by high example….generated by the potentialities of a new earth for building a new heaven”. While I am a proponent of progress, I condemn this ideology being used to justify genocide against Native Americans. Many politicians at the time rejected it, and rightly so. Daniel Walker Howe writes, “American imperialism did not represent an American consensus; it provoked bitter dissent within the national polity…Whigs saw American’s moral mission as one of democratic example rather than one of conquest.” There is little real supporting evidence that this was the national consensus. Of course, most things break down to money and profit, and land salesmen, carpetbaggers, and construction companies saw big profits in the push west.

This brings us to the subject of Capitalism, which is very much a part of the American Dream. We need a free-market economy, it prevents inflation and many other problems that are inherent in inferior forms of government and regulation. But we need to have a balance of profit vs. harm to the greater good. This country is so polarized, with liberals and conservatives throwing each other under the bus. I see not an American Dream, but a potential nightmare brewing if we don’t respect and appreciate our differences. I stress moderation, and some regulation of business as necessary, along with human and workers’ rights being protected under the Constitution. Freedom of opinion and expression needs to be respected and celebrated, not viewed with disdain if you don’t have the same viewpoint that the majority does. If we let that happen, we will have a dictatorship, not a democracy. I urge all Americans to read both viewpoints, go to page 10, and even deeper on their Google searches, to find the truth, not what the mainstream media necessarily tells us or keeps out of the public view. We need to think for ourselves and use common sense.

Is the dream still alive?

Some young people, such as millennials feel disillusioned and don’t believe that the American dream is achievable anymore. For example, Ashton, 20 years old says that “the minimum wage hasn’t gone up my entire lifetime. In the past, minimum wage reflected the cost of living. Now, people can’t get out of poverty because the minimum wage is so low.” If you are uneducated, the problem is even worse, because you have no education or experience to get a better job. I do believe that the minimum wage should be adjusted for the cost of living on a consistent basis. Enough to compensate for changes. A good way to do this is if all workers in a specific industry go on strike, all at the same time. I also believe that there should be more unions and that they are more active, especially in terms of guaranteed benefits and other worker’s rights. There also need to be more laws against temp and staffing agencies being allowed to avoid paying benefits to employees. The CEOs are already making millions, and they shouldn’t be keeping people in poverty simply because they want to amass an enormous amount of wealth while the rest of the population must struggle.

After the post-war years, the 60’s and the 70’s brought about radical culture change. Rock and Roll music appeared, and millions of teenagers relished taking part in the youthful rebellion. Saturday nights were spent going to the burger spot and hanging out around their cars, blasting rock and roll on their radios, or at the drive-in movie, where parents weren’t’ watching and hormones raged. This was a poetically beautiful time in American history. Something truly unique took place and I have always felt magic associated with mid-century American Rock and Roll culture. Why is this so important? It gave rise to the idea of strong individualism, both on a human scale and a global scale. After dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, America became a world superpower that does things its own way.

But, with great power comes great responsibility. World War II spawned a second industrial revolution. Technology advanced at a rapid pace, and the demand for energy created much more consumption of fossil fuels. Pollution increased dramatically. Scientists started noticing changes. Smog in big cities, polar ice caps melting, and species being wiped from the face of the earth in the name of progress. This gave rise to the environmental movement, which has gradually decreased our carbon footprint on a global scale. There is still much work to be done, but advances in technology and Billionaire entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson have pushed environmental consciousness to the mainstream and corporate level. That is what is necessary for change, since the corporations have become institutions, with power and influence over lawmakers. There needs to be a switch in thinking with the companies. Changing the world shouldn’t be seen as an extra point on your social status or an increase in your popularity among the social elite, it should be done with a deeper meaning, one that makes the world a better place for all social levels. Those people should be given opportunities to become the next Elon Musk or Bill Gates. We should all be in this together. Social Darwinism should still be able to run its course, but with more chances for everyone to start out with the same fighting chance for survival. For example, if we give a drunkard a chance to rehabilitate, because previously he was an attorney for civil rights and is worth saving, and he gets clean and returns to his former altruistic behavior, then that is a victory for humanity. There has been increasing evidence that new behavior causes genetic changes. Sub sequentially, the weak genes become strong and survive.

The exponential increase in knowledge and new technology was spurred by the invention of the Internet. I have seen it happen before my very eyes.

That’s my dream. A country where we are not divided, but united, and celebrating our differences. I am 40 years young, still an infant in my journey. There have been failures in my life, and successes, but I will always keep moving in a positive direction.

That’s my dream. A country where we are not divided, but united, and celebrating our differences. I am 40 years young, still an infant in my journey. There have been failures in my life, and successes, but I will always keep moving in a positive direction.