Farewell, American Dream
The American dream is a tired mirage. It's time for a new "freedom plan" that is real.
George Carlin was right about the “American Dream”.
You’d have to be asleep to believe it.
(if you have not watched this classic George Carlin video clip, here you go — if you’re around kiddos *profanity warning*. His message is good, his language is raw. )
Over the past 3 years people everywhere have been waking up.
Most folks will stay asleep.
You can’t help that. You have to wake up on your own.
You have to want to wake up.
Many people have been waking up as they put the pieces together about the bad bill of goods modern Americans have been sold (and many of us have willingly purchased it).
The “American Dream” sells itself as:
You have a home, often in the suburbs, with a 30 year mortgage.
You work for a company, often a big company, for decades.
You commute to work in your shiny car.
You take a vacation every year. Two weeks PTO from your job.
You have two cars, for you and the family.
You need debt. Lots of debt. For the cars, house & stuff.
Your kids attend public school, they then go to college.
You dutifully contribute to your 401k with the assurance of retirement.
You work hard and retire, to play golf and live life in Florida or something.
You buy lots of things, from the ads on TV and online. You buy, buy, buy.
You eat what’s on the commercials: All-American fast food and processed food.
You then take the pills on the commercials to fix the problems from what you ate.
You see your kids a bit between their ball practice, your work life, and then school.
Trust the experts: medical, financial, government. Trust the people in charge, they are here to help. They will show you what to consume to solve the problems.
You are a dutiful consumer. The all-American consumer.
Not only is this dream a mirage, it’s not what we need. It’s not what we want.
This modern version of the “American dream” will trap you in debt, steal away your very best years, ruin your health, and program your kids to follow in the same footsteps.
Perhaps some version of the American dream was more real in the distant past, perhaps it was more wholesome and attainable. I’m not sure, since I wasn’t there.
Today, the American Dream is full of fake things: fake food, fake finances, fake healthcare, fake leadership, fake media, fake community, and fake freedom.
It’s time to release this tired concept of “the American Dream.”
We don’t need an empty “dream” to chase after. We need a real plan.
We need a freedom plan:
A plan to be debt free.
A plan to eat well (more locally) and reject corporate industrial food.
A plan to actively see our kids grow up and invest in their education directly.
A plan to take back our time.
A plan to NOT commute on the freeway to a corporate job for 1-2 hours daily.
A plan to keep our health and be strong.
A plan to skip being ensnared in consumer debt.
A plan to not be a zombie to our phones and screens.
A plan to avoid being drained by government taxes and inflation.
A plan to build our own freedom in a method of our own choosing.
Dreams are not real. Dreams are just a vapor.
Good plans become solid. Good plans executed steadily become real.
Our plan has been in the works for over 5 years now.
Our plan has replaced any notions I had of “The American Dream.”
Our plan is becoming more solid every day.
My family and I are homesteading, growing food, opting-out of consumer culture, building our businesses, homeschooling our boys, building off-grid systems, pursuing health through clean eating, downsizing the “stuff” we don’t need, and working to swim out and away from the mainstream culture. Our community is doing more of this too. If you begin the journey, others will want to join.
Our modern American dream has been traded in for a “freedom plan.”
Our vision of freedom is living on our small homestead, collecting rainwater and well water, harnessing sunlight for energy and biomass for heating, growing many plants for both food and medicine, increasing biodiversity, building soil, camping with our boys on a random weekday because we can, spending time with family traveling locally as the seasons change, cooking slow food, enjoying a slower pace of life, downsizing all the things we do not need, having time to help others more, running small businesses, homeschooling on the road, and showing & helping others to build their own freedom plan.
This does require giving up things, but you GET so much in return. We hardly eat out. We cook at home a great deal. We don’t take the kids to Disney World. We enjoy more projects at home or hiking in the state parks. We don’t drive flashy cars, or live in a flashy place. We are living simply within limits. But this is the path to freedom.
We Americans have forgotten what freedom is.
We let is slip through our fingers over the past 100 years.
True freedom is not eating whatever you want, doing whatever you want, buying whatever you want, or living however you want to. Freedom is found through discipline, boundaries, and limits. And it is beautiful. Nature has limits, and so must we.
America has so much, but the abundance has been turned into a culture of extremes, excess, anxiety and now financial bondage. To restore our health and sanity we must choose a simpler path.
More and more, I see people in this generation working hard to win back their freedoms by rediscovering how to live simply.
If you can see it, then you’re ready for something real.
Are you ready for a real freedom plan?
There’s no time to start building something new like the present…
Freedom doesn’t free itself :)
Our mission at Acorn Land Labs is to share the ideas, methods, tools & concepts needed for people to leverage off-grid systems to live more freely and affordably. Go build something!
🎥 Off-Grid Systems Video Course - 10 hour off-grid systems course
📗 Acorn Off-Grid Home eBook - 50 key off-grid systems we use for living simply
🎧 Acorn Off-Grid Audiobook - 50 key off-grid systems we use for living simply
📚 Acorn Off-Grid Systems Paperback / Hardback Editions - buy on Amazon
Unfortunately, this dream requires Land. But, it is precisely because we are denied access to Land, and that our labor and capital are taxed to enrich the very people who deny it that the American Dream has become a Nightmare. You can break free. But, as far as I can see it, you can't just "opt-out" whenever you want. You need a lot of time, a lot of work, and lot of money to buy even some freedom from this broken system. It's definitely worth it, though. I am very interested to see what you have cooked up.
Your messages, and this one in particular, are truly resonating deeply with me. My whole life, I’ve known deep down in my core that this system we live in is a sham. Fraud at it’s highest level. I’ve worked, both physically and mentally, extremely hard. Taking risks and putting myself out there. Yet, I’m no different than anyone else trapped on this wheel. For me, I’m done. I too plan to swim far away from our current culture and rigged debt system. I’ve made a number of strides but I certainly need to develop a true Freedom Plan. Thank you for putting out all of the info that you have. We’ll keep watching as we all try and figure this new landscape out. I too think community support is the ticket.
Kyle