In an interview on Theo Vonās podcast This Past Weekend, Mamdani warned that if the American Dream is just an ideal thatās out of within reach, then people may start to give up.
The democratic socialist compared it to legendary NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardiaās observation during the rise of fascism in Europe, saying people turned away from democracy not because they were tired of liberty, but because they were tired of being hungry.
āSo if democracy doesnāt mean the better life that it has to, itāll lose its worth. And the same thing with the American Dream: if itās something you can only see when you turn on your TV or you hear about that one guy you grew up with who made it, that doesnāt mean enough,ā Mamdani said.
The original American dream was independence and self sufficiency which was realized through land grants and farming. At some point, the dream got switched to owning a house that is only a collection of monthly expenses, and without any income-producing potential which farming granted. Iām not sure how many other shifts occurred along the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream
Works well if you have an excess of land that you stole by genocide and excess of wealth gained due chattel slavery