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Originally Posted by filtherton
To me the american dream is the idea that everyone has an opportunity to succeed. I don't think that this is true in any kind of meaningful sense. Certainly many people do have opportunities to succeed, but many people don't, even in terms of the conditions you outlined.
Healthcare isn't always accessible, apartments aren't always accessible, education is becoming more expensive and less accessible, and the labor market is what it is.
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It seems that you don't really believe that the american dream is about opportunity. Accessible in the land of opportunity doesn't mean that something is guaranteed or in hand, just that it is possible. From that standpoint, apartments, healthcare, and education are always possible... if certain conditions are met. Mostly those conditions involve hard work and some risk and/or sacrifice (educational debt, for example).
I would have said that the american dream is that improvement is possible through effort. Regardless of the excess that some people get through luck, I think my version of the american dream is alive and well.
Of course, we could simply have different ideas about this... I suspect this may be the case.