By Jenn Lackey

It's an age-old question: What does the American Dream mean these days? Does it mean a house with 2.5 kids and a pet? Does it mean the possession of material wealth or something less concrete and nebulous such as the freedom to choose your own path? Today many Americans struggle under a mountain of debt while longing for more free time. It's questionable whether or not America can support enough opportunity for all its citizens. Is there still opportunity for hard work and discipline to pay off?

The term American Dream comes from Pulitzer prizewinner historian James Truslow Adams. In 1931, during the Great Depression, Adams coined the phrase in a written exposition called Epic of America. He wanted to publish his arguments into a book called The American Dream. He rejected the notion that the American dream was based on possession and wealth, "It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position," wrote Adams. Ironically, his American dream was never published. His publisher didn't think anyone would pay to read about such a fleeting notion.

More than 70 years later many folks associate the American dream more with wealth than Adams original vision of each man and woman attaining his or her own innate stature. A San Francisco based mechanical design engineer and 98' Stanford University graduate, Ben Gallant, took a whole class on the subject. "Right now it seems that the prevailing ideal is ownership of a nice house, a SUV, a sweet surround sound home theater, and access to low prices at Wall Mart. This idea gets fueled by the capitalism slash advertising machine so that the underlying dream of opportunity and freedom gets confused with the image of material wealth."

Mary Wagner, a retired 82-year-old Wausau Insurance employee living in Wisconsin is a testimony that the American Dream has evolved to mean more about material possessions since the 1930s. "I was raised during the depression when people didn't have anything. People who were young in that era are very conservative. We hang on to everything because we remember what those times were like and we saved and saved. We raised the Baby Boomers and I don't think they're saving enough for retirement. Why is bankruptcy such a big issue?"

One could argue mass consumerism and 'keeping up with the Joneses' was established in the 1940s and 1950s after the U.S. economy recovered from the Depression. The G.I. Bill of 1944 afforded millions of Americans the ability to obtain a college education, buy their first home and comfortably reproduce. Roughly 77 million Americans were born between 1946 and 1964. During the 1970s and 1980s suddenly a huge portion of the U.S. population was between the ages of 20 - 40, traditionally the portion of society with the most amount of disposable income. Young, urban professionals, known as Yuppies, gave way to mass consumerism.

Today more Americans are declaring bankruptcy than are graduating from college, according to the Takoma Park, Md. nonprofit Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org. Household debt, personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures hit an all time high in 2002. Also, household debt in the U.S. exceeded America's annual disposable income for the first time totaling $8 trillion, according to a recent Atlantic Monthly article.

Throughout the recent recession Americans continued to spend. Thanks to the lowest interest rates since the 1960s more young people have become homeowners and those with equity became new SUV owners. Thank you Alan Greenspan. The point is consumerism keeps America's economy healthy, and that's good for the government. The American Dream is a great public relations slogan.

However, the surge of personal debt is causing many Americans to work longer hours and feel greater pressure. At the dawn of the 21st century many Americans are looking for a healthier balance between work and time spent with family and friends. The Center for a New American Dream also found "the average employed American now works more than 47 hours a week in the struggle to keep up with mounting bills, causing tremendous stress." Another recent study conducted by the Center found that "52% employees would take a day off per week over a day's pay. About one-fifth of workers say they would go a step further, accepting an overall pay cut to have more free time and feel less pressure and stress." Focused on sustainable consumerism their battle cry is "More fun! Less Stuff!" A group of academics, government officials, environmentalists, organizers, religious leaders, consumer activists, and economists launched the organization in 1997.

Richard Florida Heinz professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon University echoes The Center's vision. In recent Washington Monthly article he argues, the new American Dream is no longer about money. "The new American Dream is to maintain a reasonable living standard while doing work that we enjoy doing," writes Florida, "In fact, many people are willing to trade income for work they enjoy. I've interviewed countless professionals who left secure jobs for riskier new ventures, often at lower pay, not for a shot at a stock-option bonanza but for a chance to do work that excites them."

Sarah Thompson, a 33-year-old writer and stay at home mom supports Florida's view. "My American Dream is of a country where people are given the opportunity and are encouraged to do work that is satisfying, creates, adds positively to the universe and is not the center of one's life."

It seems as though we're slowing evolving back to Adams original definition of the American Dream. "The American Dream to me means an economic capacity and sufficient opportunity to allow hard work and discipline to manifest whatever goal that I have set my eyes on at the time. It's the idea that I can be anything or do anything that I set out to do," says Sarah, Sarah Ainsworth, a 28-year-old, Operations Manager working at an Oakland, CA based investment advisory firm.

The bottom line is that the American Dream isn't found in your wallet. It's about hope and faith in the ability to work toward a personal goal. Hard work and discipline don't always pay off for Middle Americans, but "Is it correct to judge the American Dream on whether or not we live in a fair country?" Asks Jesse Simons, a 31-year-old Director of Development for a national environmental organization, "The point is not the reality but the myth of the 'dream'. Even those truly affected by cynicism have to admit that it's still possible to come from nothing and become successful in this country. And that hope is all a lot of people ever have."