On July 4th, birthday of our great nation. For two-and-a-half centuries, the United States has been a beacon to people everywhere seeking freedom â of religion, speech, assembly and others enumerated in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to our Constitution.
The allure of America, and those promised rights, has never faded. Our country attracts millions of people each year who hope to live under that umbrella of freedom, and who want a shot at the American Dream.
What is the American Dream? The term was first coined in 1931 by historian James Truslow Adams, who wrote in his book “The Epic of America” about a society in which each person, no matter their parentage or origin, is free to pursue their dreams and ambitions, bound only by their own capabilities. That promise, articulated at the height of the Great Depression, when faith in the country was at rock bottom, was as true and uplifting then as it is now.
I have met hundreds of people who embody that promise: a cab driver from Egypt who arrived penniless in our country, but whose son is getting a masters degree in engineering, or our doorman from who barely speaks English, but whose daughter just became a doctor. Ive talked to new immigrants from Cuba and Yemen and other repressive nations who delight in their newfound freedom, and who cannot understand how so many Americans dont value the opportunities offered by our country.
Those (mostly young) people have been persuaded by politicians on the left that the American Dream is dead. Progressive Vermont Sen. and his ideological sidekicks would have you believe that it is impossible to get ahead in the U.S. because the deck is stacked against you. On his 2025 “Oligarchy Tour,” Bernie claimed the American Dream has “turned into a nightmare” and that “billionaires have rigged the system to avoid being accountable to us.”
Democratic Socialist New York Rep. , accompanying Bernie on the stump, goes to the same dark place, telling audiences that the “right wing’s entire political agenda â¦[involves] a politics that involves lying to and screwing over working and middle class Americans so that they can steal from our healthcare, Social Security, and veterans’ benefits to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest and bailouts for their crypto billionaire friends.”
Bernie and his cynical followers are having an impact. A recent commissioned by the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream found only 46% of Americans either “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” with the idea that “everyone in this country has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream,” down from 51% in 2024.
This is tragic, because it is that sense of boundless opportunity that has inspired the great entrepreneurs and innovations that continue to put the United States ahead of other countries. came to the United States from his native South Africa, by way of Canada, because he saw this country as the best place to build an electric vehicle business, and to reimagine space travel.Â
Sergey Mikhailovich Brin, co-founder of , came to the U.S. at the age of 6 from Russia because his father, a mathematics professor, feared growing antisemitism there. Sergey, who went to a public high school and then to the University of Maryland, is now an extremely wealthy man, having helped build the worlds foremost search engine.
There are countless examples of people with extraordinary talents coming to the U.S. with empty pockets and climbing to greatness. But there are also many, many ordinary people in our country who work hard to educate their children and to provide for their families and who also achieve the American Dream. Some of those are being published each day in the New York Post, at the behest of the Milken Institute.
One remarkable story comes from a Hasbro executive, Matt Proulx, who was one of 13 kids, 11 of whom were adopted. His took in foster children â 250 over the years â many of w
