8:06 8 LTE ADP - Part 2 Activity 1.... Q Ronald Reagan was eloquent about American possibilities; so is Bill Clinton. Such different men, yet they were both products of a middle-class America that enabled the son of an alcoholic shoe salesman (Reagan) and the stepson of an alcoholic car salesman (Clinton) each to rise to the presidency. Taken together, the political legacies of Reagan and Clinton are instructive as President Obama - or a President Romney - tries to rebuild a foundation under the middle class. Neither Reagan nor Clinton was particularly doctrinaire: they believed in the capacity of individuals to build lives and create jobs. They differed in degree, not kind, on the question of government's role. Reagan said government was the problem but didn't do a great deal to dismantle it. Clinton declared the era of Big Government to be over but kept the country in the political center as the boom of the 1990s powered by information technology (with roots, inevitably, in government spending) created record surpluses. And despite the fervently held views of their foes, neither Obama nor Romney is particularly doctrinaire either. This year the choice for President comes at a time when specific ideas about relieving and growing the middle class - education reform and access, for instance - seem less important than the present and the future of the overall economy. The most basic requirement of the American Dream is a job. In 1980 Reagan broke away from Jimmy Carter after asking, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" Romney will pose that question again and again; Obama will talk about how it takes longer than three years to reverse a decade of decline. Obama will say Romney favors the rich; Romney will say he wants to create a country where everybody can once again dream of getting rich. The winner will be the one who convinces just enough of us that he, not the other guy, can fuel economic growth. It may not be an edifying conversation, but it's the conversation we're about to have. And both men will talk about the American Dream, but no single politician can restore the faith of our fathers and mothers. That's up to all of us. We are stronger the wider we open our arms. Our dreams are more powerful when they are shared by others in our time. And we are the only ones who can create a climate for the American Dream to survive another generation, then another and another. "If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us," Adams wrote in 1931, "it will, at bottom, depend on the people themselves." True then, and true now. 1. What is "that great enemy of democratic capitalism"? 2. Even though the Great Depression had begun, what was the American spirit like in 1931? 3. In 1931, James Truslow Adams wrote "The Epic of America". What is the subject of his book? 4. How does Adams define the answer to questions #3? 5. What have generations of Americans dreamed of? 6. In your opinion, do you believe the American dream is being achieved today? Why or why not? 7. According to the article, what do middle class Americans aspire to? 8. The White House Task Force on the Middle Class suggests emphasizing descriptive language rather than statistics when defining class in America. Why? 9. What are 2 contributing factors to the decline of the Middle Class? 10. What does the author believe is the "crisis of our time"? THE HISTORY OF A DREAM 11. Which document authorizes the founding of Jamestown? 12. What is most of the document concerned with? 13. America was founded on the idea that a man's natural rights included "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Why is it that only in America that the notion of man's inalienable rights moved from theory to reality? 14. The author writes "[suddenly birth mattered less than it ever had before." What does he mean by this? 15. How is the American Dream embodied in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"? DREAM AND REALITY 16. According to the author, what or who helped make the rise of the individual possible? 17. What did the creation of the transcontinental railroad help Americans with? 18. Name 3 government acts and explain how those acts helped Americans achieve the American Dream. 19. When did the government become more evident in the people's lives? 20. What was FDR determined to preserve? 21. What ended the Great Depression and helped broaden the New Deal? 22. What new dimension did the New Deal add to the American Dream? 23. After WWII, what were some contributing factors that led to more Americans entering the middle class? THE CRACK UP 24. Since the 1960's, what has happened to economic growth? RESTORING THE DREAM 25. In the Epic of America Adams writes, "[t]here is no reason why wealth, which is a social product, should not be more equitable controlled and distributed in the interests of society." Do you agree or disagree and why or why not? 26. According to the article, what is the most basic requirement of the American Dream? 27. Who is responsible for keeping the American Dream alive? 6 49 O= Dashboa Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox