Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism: Is this the True Philosophy of the American Dream?
By Vu Tran
What exactly is the American Dream? Early settlers saw the American Dream as Manifest Destiny. The goal here was that during the nineteenth century, the United States believed it had a divinely-inspired mission to expand, particularly across the North American frontier towards the Pacific Ocean so that it could bring the blessings of liberty to the entire continent of North America. These influences were solely based on its political, social, and economic concepts. Later on, as America grew, the people’s dreams and vision for themselves developed into a dream of “rags to riches”. Now, people, especially immigrants and those on work visas, perceive America as the land of “equal” opportunity to them. However, this vision, though beautiful and enticing, is very misleading. In fact, many find this dream faulted, a lie, and have become disillusioned to the so-called egalitarian society. Race, social class, and educational standing are all competing factors, making America the land of true equal opportunity only if you are privileged to it.
Racism is in fact a large reason why many people in America cannot achieve their American Dream. “The American Nightmare”, as so famously referenced by the political philosopher, Malcolm X, in his “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech, spoke of hypocrisy of democracy and the illusion of being and American during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. As the voice of one of the uprising leaders amongst the African American community, Malcolm X was able to put to words how most African Americans felt the unfair treatment based solely on skin color and due to a history of slavery that they had no control over. Not only it was mentally and emotionally difficult for African Americans to get by in America during this time period, but it was also physically difficult based on riots, beatings, and police...
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