Ah! the American Dream. Just imagining the letters forming the word "American Dream" leads our imagination to paint swirls of sparkle and gold. It was once an old ideology that determination and hard work achieved the American dream. The next-door neighbor or the passerby on the street who worked hard for ten long years with ambition circulating through their blood, the one who had achieved financial success, a white picket fence, a family, and God, Maytag appliances was what made the American Dream. Today that nostalgia is no longer with us; it is endangered in corporate America. Today it is then replaced by the catchy idea "Get Rich! Quick!" as noted by Matthew Warshauer, Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University, who expresses in his article "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Changing Conceptions of the American Dream," that Americans are trying to strike it rich by winning millions from game shows, lotteries, and frivolous lawsuits.
             Arriving at the University of LA at Monroe, on my daily commute to Monroe, LA, from the rural parish of West Carroll, LA, I notice half a million-dollar homes and state-of-the-art sport utility vehicles under a four-car garage. As a native of Ouachita parish, I wonder did everybody win the lottery after I left seven years ago or did a sudden flock of CEOs, doctors, lawyers, or even drug dealers moved in. I do not think for a minute that all these houses belong to the wealthy, but what I see in the middle-class man obsessed with material objects singing along with Madonna's song "Material Girl" and living paycheck to paycheck. There is such a need to be competitive or wealthier than the other Americans, and if we cannot achieve financial wealth, then we shall act as if we are shuffling in money. The obsession with material objects and financial wealth has led millions of Americans to daydream of winning the lottery (whereas statistics show they have a better chance of getting struck b...