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The Forum > Article Comments > An elder’s observation of the American Dream > Comments

An elder’s observation of the American Dream : Comments

By Brian Holden, published 13/11/2012

The reason that the shockingly inefficient 'Caddies' of the 50s, 60s and 70s were such big sellers was that there were a lot of Americans who wanted to feel to be bigger Americans.

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...To my mind the “American Dream” is best epitomized in the works of John Steinbeck. The reality of that dream, is one of exploitation of race and underclass! These are the magic ingredients that have built the beautiful “façade”; and when the dream collapses, the same exploited elements of American society are the sacrifices made to the God of Greed; a sick game with one percent of Americans as the winners, and 99 percent suckers to the cause!
Posted by diver dan, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 8:52:35 AM
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Once, 'The American Dream' was relatively harmless and yielded huge, ugly cars with long fins and MacDonald's Restaurants (using restaurants is its broadest sense).

Since 1945, the American Dream is to control and dominate the whole world using military force, invasion and occupation, torture and rendition, the threat of dropping nukes, etc.

Perhaps the Americans might again build the finned machines and forget about their imperial ambitions and ludicrous restaurants!

We can but hope.
Posted by David G, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 9:37:03 AM
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Mr. Holden writes: "Hence the absurd 1959 Cadillac - both a badge and a toy for those who seem to have forgotten (if they ever understood in the first place) what those who came by the Mayflower were dreaming about."

The Pilgrim Fathers who came on the Mayflower were English who had fled to the Netherlands to get religious freedom. After they got to the Netherlands they found that religious freedom was not really what they wanted. The Netherlands had religious freedom even for Jews. Heavens forbid! The Pilgrims came back to England and set sail for North America to set up a theocracy. In this theocracy they burnt witches, hung Quakers, exterminated Indians who they saw as devil-worshippers and expelled dissenters. Mr. Holden, did you know what those who came by the Mayflower were dreaming about?
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 11:18:38 AM
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Brian to start with anyone who can actually own & drive a 1997 Magna, now, or in it's day, is automatically excluded from discussing anything automotive. They have proved they have no soul or taste.

Anyone who can not see the joy, exuberance, & shear fun of driving such a car as a 59 Caddy, especially today, has no right to write or pontificate about life. They just dont understand the meaning of life, or have the ability to enjoy it.

What on earth has the desires of the pilgrims got to do with anything? I am not about to live my life by the dreams of our convicts, or their overseeing guards. I most certainly will not be living my life by the miserable outlook this piece presents. If this is what enjoying the best time of your life brings you to, I hope I have a sh1t of a time, in retirement.

I have always liked small cars, reasonably powerful sports cars, which such as Brian probably hates. I would never have owned such a car as a huge Caddy. However I live on the club Sunday cruise circuit of Brisbane. A couple of times a year we get the Topless Yankee club driving through. These are all similar huge "yank tanks" convertible land yacht cars.

If the joy, & fun, in the eyes of the participants of these cruises is the only good thing to come from them, that alone fully justifies the construction & perpetuation of these mountains of chrome & paint, in a far too grey world.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 1:10:54 PM
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David f

Yes, the Pilgrims were ignorant people who feared the devil taking human form. That has no relevance as to the reason they braved the stormy Atlantic. They risked all to find a place where they could reach their personal potential - and this is what most people understand the American Dream to mean.
Posted by Brian Holden, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 2:08:21 PM
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Well done Hasbeen. LOL! You certainly put a big grin on my face with your above post. Especially the bit about Magnas.

But onto the topic. Flash, brash and noisy. Like a Broadway musical, Vegas burlesque or a home-town parade, our US friends like to flaunt it when they've got it. I say good for them.

Spirit is what it's called Mr Holden and there ought to be more of it right here in Australia too, instead of the maudlin doomsdayers and snivelling sustainment hacks. Those sorts of people just don't know how to live life.

Bring it back. Bring it all back. Long live Yankee heavy metal! I love it.

Ah, yes, those were the days - people were actually free, rich and happy. I vaguely recall being like that as a child. True story. We used to have a big black straight-eight Buick.

Oh well, back to modern day sustainable, renewable boredom, guilt and poverty. Cheers all. Enjoy the misery.

PS - Hey, Hasbeen, I like old Brit sports cars too. Especially those Morgans.
Posted by voxUnius, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 2:18:50 PM
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Dear Mr. Holden,

Reaching their personal potential is New Age talk. You are a thoughtful man, and I expect better from you. My mother's parents came to the United States so they could be together. In Lithuania they were both supposed to marry somebody else. My father was a deserter from the Czarist army who came to the US because he had relatives there. Most people came to the US simply because in some way they could be better off there. That is generally why people move from one country to another.
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 2:45:25 PM
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voxUnius, glad you enjoyed it. Don't be jealous, but I bought a Morgan +4 brand new in 1962. With a few extras it cost me 1440 ponds, plus registration. It was to be my new wife & my last bit of youthful extravagance before settling down.

Those were the days when you could drive into town, [Sydney], park in Pitt St, go to a movie, & drive home, no hassles.

It did not work out that way. The Morgan was frighteningly quick, [in that day], so I went racing to learn how to drive it where there was nothing coming the other way.

That led me to racing things like Lotus & Brabham open wheelers, so it took about 25 years for settling down to happen.

Don't blame the car, it's in the genes I think. 8 years of that 25 was spent sailing around the Pacific islands.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 5:14:51 PM
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Mr Hasbeen,

I knew you were into Moggies, I read it some time ago in one of your posts. I knew it wasn't Cadillacs (see, staying on topic).

You say "brand new in 1962", So I'm thinking it probably came out of Ken Ward's servo down in Gladesville, yes?

Even the American Dream embraced Morgans, and Brits are still building them new today with wooden coachwork and all. Classic. Now that's spirit.

Anyway, getting too close to the edges of OLO etiquette here, better sign off. But, just to say I bought my first Australian Dream (nightmare actually) in 1966 - a very overused 1949 MG TC for $450. I used to drool going through Gladesville back them. Ooh yeah.

You can contact me if you like, go here - http://www.interactivetechnical.com.au/contact/contact_02.htm

We've got more in common than you might think.

Mr Young, Sir, many thanks for your tolerance in anticipation.

Cheers all.
Posted by voxUnius, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 6:34:54 PM
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BRIAN HOLDEN says in this article<The reason that the shockingly inefficient 'Caddies' of the 50s, 60s and 70s were such big sellers was that there were a lot of Americans who wanted to feel to be bigger Americans.>

I think the main reason was that at that stage in history, America owned some very prolific oil wells and petrol in America was dirt cheap compared to the rest of the world . This enabled people to drive big cars without much cost.
The other reason was “space”. A low population meant plenty of parking space. These cars started to become impractical as the population grew and it became harder to find room to park a lot of big cars. Petrol also got more expensive in America over time.
Brian sounds envious of cars that did no harm in the period in which they existed.

Brian Holden fails to address the issue of the consumer- base that fuels the ever increasing
demand for western goods and the majority are not white Americans or Australians. That consumer base is being driven by some very big overpopulated countries in the world who have not controlled their childbirth rate like the white Western citizens have.
It’s like prostitution. No customers, no prostitution.

Capitalism in the West would have stagnated by now, if it were not for the flooding of Western countries with millions of immigrants fleeing their own overpopulated countries. The politicians in fact use immigrants to fan Capitalism to make sure the economy doesn't stagnate. Countries like China and India also have massive consumer bases and a love of Western ideas. They also keep Capitalism operating.

Brian you need to take off your 1970’s Hippy glasses and realise that the world does not conform to those ideas any more.
Posted by CHERFUL, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 10:28:26 PM
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