Infiltrating The American Dream

By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, October 14, 2008.
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It’s been a tough few weeks for the American dream. The financial crisis has lawmakers and pundits questioning whether our short-term economic health is at stake, or if it’s our very notion of the American dream that’s in danger.

That’s what worries Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. In an op-ed this weekend, he pleaded to Senators Obama and McCain:

"Reassure me. Don't give me empty words about American exceptionalism. Tell me in plain language what our new place is in the world and how we're going to give our children the good life that we've enjoyed."

Is the dream to be a beacon of hope in the world, the proverbial "shining city upon the hill?" To pass along a better life to our children and grandchildren? As it turns out, it depends who you ask.

Award-winning journalist, filmmaker and humorist Harmon Leon went on a cross-country quest to see how the American dream is understood today. Not in white-picket-fence America, but by some of the country's under-the-radar sub-cultures - immigrants, carnies, celebrity impersonators and partner-swapping swingers. His book The American Dream is now out in paperback.

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