The American Dream is one of the greatest privileges in the world. It has been communicated through the years with these important words from The Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I love truth that is self-evident. I often feel that way about the claims of the Bible as we look at the world around us. Yet there are others that take the world around them and use it to completely deny all that the Bible claims. The odd thing about life is the interpretation of things that are self-evident.
Throughout the history of the United States of America there has been much said concerning our unalienable rights. Much of that has been summed up in the phrase – “The American Dream”. This dream is less a dream and more a vision. Dreams are simply the fantasy of the mind when one has no control over it. Vision is that which a person sees as possible even when others see it as not. Thomas Jefferson understood that when he penned these words to Great Britain.
Vision has been and will always be what drives nations, organizations, churches, and people to greatness. I pray daily that God will give me vision for my life, my family, and my church. We must be conscious of what we fix our minds own because it will cause what we set our eyes on and what we set our eyes on will define our life.
During the current political debate the American Dream is being discussed yet not enough of us are catching what is being said. Our country has always operated on the freedom to pursue these things. It is the government’s role is to secure these rights. The United States of America has an obligation to provide the security of these rights to its citizens. It is not, however, the government’s responsibility to ensure our success in the use of these rights.
In our current political debate the biggest issues is the defining of the American Dream. We must realize that when the American Dream becomes the obligation of the government and not the opportunity of its people, it ceases to be the American Dream. That concept in and of itself is not American. It is not what this country was founded on and is not the ideology that has made it great.
The United States does not owe any of us anything except the rights we need to pursue that dream. They do not owe us the down payment on it. They do not owe it to us to bail us out when we fail at an endeavor while pursuing it. They do not owe us the health care needed when we work ourselves sick seeking it. That is not what a democracy with a free economy is about.
What the United States owes us is the opportunity to work our tails off and get after it. They owe us the freedom to define that dream as we so please. That dream is not about money for me. My vision is to be used by God in ways I could never imagine. My vision is to see one city completely come to Christ in my lifetime. If God did that in Prairieville I would die a man who had ultimately experienced the American Dream.
The issue that we face today as voters is that each candidates’ interpretation of the American Dream is what causes their Vision for America. My version of the American Dream might sound usless to you, but that is my unalienable right. As you vote be sure you consider how the candidates are defining this dream. The key issue to that definition is this, Is the American Dream an obligation of the government or the opportunity of its people?
You must understand that each of them has a vision for America based on their interpretation of that dream. If the dream is not American, the vision can not be.
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