The American Dream: Can It Survive the 21st Century?

Can each of us achieve our own "American dream" while recognizing needs of other individuals, society, and future generations? Not if our present national policies continue, warns long term planning expert Joseph L. Daleiden. He persuasively argues that if present socioeconomic trends remain, our nation faces social disaster before the middle of the 21st century.

These trends can be reversed, he insists, but only if we are willing to (1) reject failed policies both liberal and conservative directed at population growth, the environment, the national debt, trade, poverty, crime, race relations, education, healthcare, social security, and tax reform; (2) accept that all of these areas of concern are intertwined; and (3) take responsibility for our decisions.

Avoiding ideology and platitudes, Daleiden's pragmatic approach relies on actual evidence of how prospective policies will influence human behavior and whether their outcomes will increase or decrease human happiness in the long run.