Dreams, huh? Freud would be proud...

I don't know how familiar you are with the US, but because the nation was formally defined by a bunch of merchants, tax-cheats, religious radicals and amateur philosophers, it lacks most of the a priori guarantees of integrity that most other nations take for granted; like some flavor of religious or historical justification, a tradition of familial rule, or even the actions of a "great leader". As a consequence, the definitions of the nation have allowed some flexibility of interpretation.

Which is why, every so often, questions like "what does the flag mean?" or "what does the statue of liberty mean?" or in this case "what is the American dream?" get tossed around. And like most questions, the answers wind up telling you more about the person speaking than the topic of the question.

So after reading the answers to the last question as posed by Forbes magazine to a bunch of celebrities and such, I found myself in the unusual position of wanting to side with a bunch of the old white capitalist guys and against the hardworking son of immigrants and the swimsuit/lingerie model.

Now, I can admit that I didn't care much for Ms. Banks' choice of words. I suppose saying "to the max" in any context isn't really that bad. But Gonzales' answer makes me taste blood. The arrogance of that man to frame an ideal for an entire nation in terms of his own personal experiences is appalling, but completely indicative of his inability to consider anything beyond his own interests. That a smug, pandering son of a bitch like him is allowed to interpret the laws of any nation is an insult. But the fact that he's allowed to act while under the auspices of protecting freedom and justice should make any conscious American sick and ashamed.

My American dream is that someday the American people will get their shit together so that duplicitous, disingenuous, amoral sons of bitches like the attorney general will be driven out like vermin they are.