In the Feb 26th issue of The Wall Street Journal, there is a striking article about a growing number of Americans choosing to leave the United States. The reasons are familiar and unsettling: stagnant salaries, unaffordable housing, rising healthcare costs, and deep frustration with political rhetoric particularly the anger, division, and outright lies that have come to dominate public discourse. The article makes a bold claim: the American Dream is gone.
As I read it, I felt an unexpected heaviness. Not because the argument was shocking, but because, for someone like me, it felt deeply personal.
I came to the United States from the Philippines as a graduate student carrying a suitcase full of hopes and a head full of belief. Like so many immigrants before me, I was drawn by the promise of the American Dream: work hard, play by the rules, and life would steadily get better. Education would open doors. Talent and persistence would be rewarded. The future, while not guaranteed, felt possible.
For many years, that dream felt real.
The U.S. gave me opportunities that would have been difficult if not impossible to access back home. I learned, grew, built a career, and found a sense of purpose. I believed in the idea that this country, while imperfect, bent toward progress. That belief sustained me through long nights of study, financial uncertainty, and the quiet loneliness that comes with being far from home.
But reading that article forced me to confront a painful truth: the dream I chased may not be the same dream available today especially to the next generation.
When Americans themselves begin to leave because they can no longer afford to live decently in their own country, something fundamental has shifted. When college graduates work multiple jobs and still can’t pay rent. When healthcare costs feel like a gamble. When political leaders traffic in fear instead of facts. When truth itself becomes optional. These are not just policy failures they are moral ones.
What troubles me most is the erosion of trust. The American Dream was never just about money. It was about dignity. Stability. The belief that tomorrow could be better than today. That belief is fragile, and once it cracks, it is hard to repair.
As an immigrant, I find myself in a strange position. I once left my homeland in search of opportunity. Now I watch as Americans consider doing the same, looking abroad for what they feel they have lost at home. The irony is impossible to ignore.
And yet, I am not ready to declare the American Dream dead. I believe it is wounded badly, but not gone.
Dreams don’t disappear overnight. They fade when they are neglected, when greed outweighs compassion, when lies replace leadership. They fade when a nation forgets that its strength has always come from inclusion, from immigrants, from dreamers willing to bet everything on the promise of a better life.
My own journey stands as proof that the dream once worked. The question now is whether America is willing to fight for it again not just for immigrants like me, but for its own people.
Because if the American Dream truly dies, it won’t be because foreigners stopped believing in it. It will be because Americans did.
- Declining Upward Mobility: The likelihood of children surpassing their parents' income has dropped significantly, with only ~50% doing so now compared to ~90% for those born in 1940.
- Economic Inequality: Wealth and income gains have become concentrated, failing to be broadly shared, notes .
- Cost of Living Pressures: Nasdaq reports that high inflation, rising home prices (now often 10x higher than 50 years ago), and soaring homeowners insurance are making the dream harder to achieve.
- Generational Pessimism: Belief in the dream has dropped sharply among young adults (18-29), falling from 56% in 2010 to 21% in 2024, says Wikipedia.
- Geographic Disparities: The dream is particularly elusive in specific areas, such as rural communities in Appalachia and the South, report EIG.
