Thank you! Personally, I think the American Dream is part advertising campaign and part patriotism/capitalism's temporal equivalent to 'pie in the sky when you die.' Is that two ways of saying the same thing? As to what it should be, that's something that comes down to each individual, anything else is just another way of telling you how to think/what to want. It was interesting as we traveled just seeing all the variations on what people had thought the dream was in times past. Curiously enough I came across a BBC piece about the American Dream today.
It's hard getting away from atrocity in this country but it was a rather powerful experience learning about it. Man, that trip was epic, I just want to do it again. My dad was a big Carlin fan so I heard that bit at a young age and never forgot it. Lol, one of my favorite rap/hip-hop tunes incorporates much of that Carlin bit.