Becoming rich and/or owning your own business is NOT the American Dream

[olkaz]

"You were going to put him in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realize the American dream," McCain said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_el_pr/joe_the_plumber

I am so sick of this.

The American Dream is being able to work for a 9/5, raise a family, send the kids to school, take a vacation every year, and own your own house.

Plus, fuck you, "Joe the Plumber".

[Viking12]

1. To be fair the American is expressed in different ways by different people

Just sayin'

[mucifer]

2. Lots of repubs who don't have much money think this way.mcstupid is

just trying to appeal to them. It probably made lots of them feel good. You know 20% or so of the people watching the debate thought he won. Those were the people who probably like that answer. Hopefully, it wasn't the undecideds.

[pnwmom]

3. I wouldn't say that the American dream is to work 9/5 or to take a vacation

every year. And not everyone wants kids or the responsibilities of home ownership.

I think the American dream is to determine for yourself what your individual goals are, and to succeed at them.

[stillcool]

4. What are the odds that..

Joe's business will succeed in the first place? Regardless of what he pays in taxes, if people are broke they aren't going to be needing much plumbing.

[alwysdrunk]

5. Yes it is.

Your version of the American Dream is no "dream". That's what the minimum should close to. For everyone who's not straight up poor, that's just shooting par. A dream is more than that.

[Terran]

6. What's weird is that McCain thought we could all identify

with a guy making $250,000 a year.

I dunno, I sort of think having your own business could be part of the so-called American dream, for some people. It shouldn't have any direct connection to the ambition to become filthy rich, though.