Is the American Dream Over?

“American Dream, the: The idea that the U.S. is a place where everyone has the chance of becoming rich and successful. Many immigrants to the U.S. in the early 20th century believed in the American Dream.”
This is the official definition of the American Dream that you find in every single dictionary. But not only in dictionaries, but also in the Minds of many people, the U.S. is the country of unlimited possibilities, the famous “from rags to riches”-story is known and believed by a lot of people. And without doubt it was exactly that country, to which millions of refugees and other foreigners immigrated and where they got the possibility to start life new, to try to live their dream.

For example Daniel Libeskind, who is a famous American architect who designed the Freedom Tower and the Jewish Museum in Berlin. He says: “And you have to remember that I came to America as an immigrant. You know, on a ship, through the Statue of Liberty. And I saw that skyline, not just as a representation of steel and concrete and glass, but as really the substance of the American Dream.”                                 And that quote shows exactly what the dictionary said, America as a sort of monument of the American Dream, the Skyline as substance of the American Dream.  It´s also an example for the American Dream, Libeskind came as an immigrant and is now a famous architect. Libeskind also mentions the Statue of Liberty, the first thing with Ellis Island the first thing immigrants saw of America, together with Ellis Island. It’s a very famous monument, very well visited by tourists and owner of a great story.

But now, the situation has changed a bit. If you look at picture Nr. 1, you can see a picture taken at the coast of New York. You can see a poster and the Statue of Liberty on the background. In front of the poster there are some people, maybe even tourists, who ate reading what is written: “Important Government Shut Down-Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Shut down”, which means, that both have been closed by the government. It is a picture taken recently, at the moment the U.S. has big problems with their finance crisis. They shut down a lot of things in the last weeks, on order to try to save at least a big of money; they have arrived at the ‘tip of the iceberg’, they are almost bankrupt. But not just the government has problems paying back the money they owe to the banks. Also a lot of families are desperate, because they are not able anymore to pay back their debits.
So we now have those two situations around the Statue of Liberty-now and then. It is the monument for freedom and hope for many immigrants who came to the U.S.  and are still coming to the U.S. even maybe for those,  who are thinking about immigrating to the U.S. in the future- and now it’s been shut down by the government together with Ellis Island, which also plays a big part in American history. And seeing how hard it is for many American families to survive, I think we have to ask ourselves if the American Dream is still alive or if it’s “over”,  has the American Dream ended?
In my opinion, yes. The U.S. are not that country unlimited possibilities anymore, at least not the “rags and riches” type. Maybe fo well educated people, who have studied and learned a job which is needed in the U.S., but not for refugees who are in search of a better way of life.  (HS)