Jaded,
They American dream is not a lie. You have simply been lied to about the American Dream. The pursuit of happiness is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Achieving it is not.

The free enterprise concept allows all sorts of opportunities for the uninformed and foolish to be taken advantage of. You don't sound like one of them, you sound "aware."

Sadly most folks go through life believing the BS presented by commercials and politics. Blissfully enjoying their lives moment to moment, check to check, they are unaware they got screwed. When they find out, they blame the system instead of themselves.

There is a saying " danger is mother nature's way of getting stupid people out of the gene pool.'' We expect, no demand, instant guaranteed success because we were born Americans. That is the lie.

My parents lived through the depression and then fought WWII for a country that hadn't given them much of anything but a promise. My dad was a poor dirt farmer who came back to become an engineer and raise a family. His generation built houses and highways, fed the world and put a man on the moon. They did so because they wanted to, they could and so they did.

That is the American dream.


roadster with a stick