What our survey found about the American dream came as a surprise to me. When Americans were asked what makes the American dream a reality, they did not select as essential factors becoming wealthy, owning a home or having a successful career. Instead, 85 percent indicated that “to have freedom of choice in how to live” was essential to achieving the American dream. In addition, 83 percent indicated that “a good family life” was essential.Contra the NYT's summation, they didn't say "community," they said "family." There's a crucial, biological difference there. The nation grows out of its families, and whether or not it sustains and supports healthy families is an important measure of its success. Blood ties remain important. People care less about whether they are 'living a better life than their parents' than about whether their children and grandchildren will still have prospects for a good life, even if they happen to define that life in terms of less-marketable choices.
The “traditional” factors (at least as I had understood them) were seen as less important. Only 16 percent said that to achieve the American dream, they believed it was essential to “become wealthy,” only 45 percent said it was essential “to have a better quality of life than your parents,” and just 49 percent said that “having a successful career” was key.
This pattern — seeing the American dream as more about community and individuality than material success and social mobility — appeared across demographic and political categories. In the case of political party affiliation, for example, 84 percent of Republicans and independents said having freedom was essential to the American dream, as did 88 percent of Democrats; less than 20 percent of those in either party held that becoming wealthy was essential.
Ultimately this is all very wise, and I'm glad to see it.
Wow. Hard to believe 88% of democrats believe that, as most of them don't vote for it. Still, it puts a little perspective on the view you get from the news or twitter- a bit of a hopeful framing.
ReplyDelete"The great line of demarcation in modern politics, Eric Voegelin used to point out, is not a division between [classical] liberals on one side and totalitarians on the other. No, on one side of that line are all those men and women who fancy that the temporal order is the only order, and that material needs are their only needs, and that they may do as they like with the human patrimony. On the other side of that line are all those people who recognize an enduring moral order in the universe, a constant human nature, and high duties toward the order spiritual and the order temporal."
ReplyDeletehttps://kirkcenter.org/conservatism/ten-conservative-principles/
So....to what audience are the Socialists actually playing?
ReplyDeleteOr, as PJBuchanan asks, '...what demand IS there for infanticide in the several States?'
Given that survey and what the Democrats have been doing in the last 60 days or so, (and what they expect to do for the next 18 months), the next Presidential will look just like Reagan's re-election, except Trump will get even larger margins.
May it be from your keyboard to God's ears, my friend.
ReplyDeleteEncouraging, I guess, but how to square this result with the widespread attacks on free speech and the seeming paucity of support for that critical element of freedom?
ReplyDeleteMaybe a lot of people want the freedom to live where they want, pick their own careers, choose their own sexual & romantic partners (and preferences), etc....but don't really care that much about the freedom to express unapproved opinions?
I read that political correctness polls extremely badly. If so, the attacks on free speech may be more the product of a dedicated minority’s labor of love.
ReplyDeleteI think it is encouraging that the core values remain, but I think wording, definitions, and impressions matter a great deal here. For example, I think many Americans dislike the idea of people not being allowed to hunt or defend their homes, but believe that "common sense gun control" would be just fine, never noticing that overregulation and increasing permit costs could accomplish much without putting any formal ban in place. See also "hate speech." They may also be thinking of "wealthy" only in terms of the 1%. Had "prosperous," or "being able to put enough away for retirement" been used instead they might have voted differently.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's good to know that when you get them to stop and think, most Americans get it right.
What is more encouraging is that 33% of 18 year or less students disbelieve in the AUthoritarian religious gospel of heliocentrism and geoscience.
ReplyDeleteDemoncrats sometimes believe "freedom" is the ability to enslave your neighbor to make him do what is the "best" for humanity, so that "Demoncrats" can live in "freedom". The freedom to change the world so that you don't have to change yourself.
ReplyDeleteBy necessity it requires slavery: not Slavery 1.0, debt peon bondage as in 1.5 Feudalism or Ancient tribal cultures but Slavery 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5
It's easy to think material wealth will make you happy until you accept it on terms that make you feel intolerably constrained, as many people in abusive relationships or bad but lucrative jobs have discovered. On a lesser scale, this is the healthy feeling that leads young adults to strike out on their own, even if that means a ratty apartment and a lot of beanie-wienies.
ReplyDeleteThe NYT lies again, eh? Or are they just following the left's consideration that "family" excludes gays and trans?
ReplyDelete