american dream, n.All

The American dream is a nebulous national catchphrase used religiously by campaigning politicians, most likely because it has never been defined and therefore means whatever the listener chooses it to mean: freedom ... educational opportunity .. .a piece of property with a tract home on it . . . a small plumbing business of one's own .. . two cars in the garage, including one buick .. . a personally narrated late-night commercial on the local tv station, with spouse and children smiling stiffly in the background ... a banner year . . . relocation to a tudor-style house with a tennis court and a jacuzzi . . . hobnobbing with the mayor at the eighteenth green . . . three cars in the garage, including at least one mercedes . . . going national, with plumbing franchises in twenty-nine states ... a summer house on the lake, with costumed servants .. . a son at babson and a daughter at bard . . . one's face on the cover of fortune ... a listing in who's who ... a private jet with an 18k goldplated toilet ... one's face on the cover of time ... a villa on the mediterranean, site of periodic bridge tourneys with omar sharif and king juan carlos . . . one's face on the cover of people .. . an affair with a nubile actress who has been nominated for at least one golden globe award . .. invitation to dinner at the white house . . . surviving a corporate takeover attempt . . . surviving chapter 11 . . . surviving quadruple bypass surgery . . . burial in a family mausoleum with at least one commissioned sculpture of oneself at the entrance . . . inclusion on god's a-list.

The American dream is that to which depression is a normal, healthy reaction.

The American dream is a revolutionary struggle against the American nightmare.

The American dream is owning a British sports car, smoking a Havana cigar, and drinking Russian vodka on the French Riviera.

The American dream is today, to become very rich and still be regarded as a victim.

The American dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one's children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals.

The American dream is called that because one has to be asleep to believe it.

The American dream is the birthright of every U.S. citizen to lease a marginally better automobile than the one their parents once owned.