The State of the American Dream

In the fall of 2021, I set out searching for what remains of the American Dream in a post-COVID world. Over the past four years, I’ve spent significant time in 15 states, and frankly, in that time, things have only gotten worse. 

Actual photo of me searching for the American Dream

Much, much worse. 

I witness very little optimism out here. Our society is overflowing with anger, frustration, malaise, and most of all ennui. 

Culturally we are at the lowest point in our history. Watching Tiger King during the early days of COVID is the last shared cultural touchstone for this nation. That moment was the high point for this decade, and it’s all been downhill since then. 

Think about that for a moment. A “reality series” about a bunch of degenerates in acid wash skinny jeans trying to tame tigers is the cultural high point of recent history. And now the star is in prison.

If we are honest, Tiger King wasn’t even that memorable. If it weren’t for the memes, people wouldn’t even recall its existence. That is how sad the state of our culture is. If it’s not memeable, it’s not memorable. 

There is no shared mythology in this country anymore. There are no heroes for people to aspire to become. Much of the country is now so cynical that they look at heroism as something to mock. 

A perfect example? A man threw on a women’s swimsuit, broke female swimming records, and suddenly to many he was a hero.

I always thought I was a cynic, but damn, I was never that bad. 

But the reality is our archetypes have all died. Today, Hollywood tends to glorify the bandits terrorizing a town set in the Old West, while the gunslinger who steps in to keep order after the sheriff is killed gets branded as the villain. 

To the surprise of only those who think these stories are a good idea, this has led to not only a cultural bankruptcy, but could damn well lead to studio bankruptcies.

The lack of heroes in our stories is what causes so many to look for heroes in other areas of their lives. This brings us to what is probably the worst development in our history. 

We started turning politicians into heroes. 

People used to be able to go to the theater on a weekend and see an action hero blow up the bad guys and give quippy one-liners. This would make them feel good about themselves and their beliefs. 

Lacking that experience, it should come as no surprise that people started looking at Donald Trump to fill the void. What is more of a classic archetype than blowing up the villain and saying, “Thank you for your attention in this matter” as the credits roll and “Higher” by Creed plays. 

The problem is that we are left with political leaders on both sides who act like movie characters instead of being boring, anonymous legislators. The government now cares more about likes on Instagram and retweets on Twitter. Instead of, you know, actually governing. 

Hell, even Florida - which has held out the longest in terms of just governing well - has gone after clicks with Alligator Alcatraz which, while hilarious, is pretty damn cringy. 

So what we are left with is a governing system that is more of a show than show-business. Americans of all ilks end up cheering for their heroes to vanquish their villains. The real kicker is that the heroes and villains are all Americans, and completely dependent on the political party you’ve joined.

Both of the major political parties are Big Government goons. As I am writing this today, July 3rd, 2025, we have supposed conservatives cheering for both a government boosting budget and a jobs report that was a surprise beat on the strength of government hiring. 

That hiring was mostly teachers, though. The second-biggest growth area was Healthcare, followed by Social Services. Side note - If they aren’t directly government jobs, they only exist because of government programs and grants, creating the hamster wheel of insanity. 

We live in an era of malaise not seen since the Carter administration. It's not surprising.  We have been governed by administrations closer to Carter and LBJ than anything else since 2017. 

The American people are gladly giving more power and authority to the Federal government as long as they think it is done to “own the other side”. They fight each other over issues that the people in office don’t really give a damn about (abortion, immigration, trans bullshit) other than the issue’s usefulness at distracting the public while they raid the treasury. 

Look, I get why people feel down. I lack the motivation myself to do much of anything because I always have that nagging voice in my head saying, “What’s the point? Nobody cares anyway.” 

It can be pretty damn depressing out here. So yeah, as a society, we all look for that quick dopamine hit from sticking it to the other guy. Then the other guy gets a dopamine hit from clapping back. In the end, everyone is still depressed and chasing their next fix. 

In a nation as large as ours, shared cultural experiences are needed to keep everyone unified. 

You need a “Who shot Jr?” or “Aloha from Hawaii” or even a faked “Moon Landing” so people throughout the nation have something they all experience together. Something to unite the masses. We haven’t had something like that since some people did something on 9/11.

What we are left with is a fractured society that is constantly angry with each other. A society that always thinks the other side is getting away with something. We live in a glowing example of a low-trust society, and make no mistake, that is by design. 

The power structure wants you to feel like a victim. They want you to feel like others are getting away with things because the more upset you are, the more likely you are to cheer when your liberties are slowly eroded. 

I hope people start learning to tune out politicians and remember that this country began because the people worked together against overreaching leadership. I want Elon Musk to start a third political party that will legitimately work to shrink the current size of our government. But I fear none of this will happen because we are too far gone. 

If that’s the case, our only hope is a Carrington Event.