By Carla Chance

The Daily Record

Whether you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or relegated to plastic from the $1.25 discount store, according to most versions of “The American Dream,” this year’s National Law Day theme, anyone could have a seat at the proverbial table. No reservations required. Although, women and other minorities had a much longer wait time – to even get through the door.

Meaning – that the ideals that our Forefathers put to paper, drafted into the Constitution, and ratified into law, that here, in this newly formed nation, “All Men Are Created Equal.” Hence, everyone has the right to succeed, regardless of pedigree, or ties to the upper crust of society or aristocracy.

For nearly 250 years, the United States, viewed as a land of golden opportunities throughout the world, enticed immigrants from various nations to stake a claim, given carte blanche, the free rein, to achieve their dreams.

But, has the American Dream become more of a nightmare, as the nation further divides over their piece of the pie? The gulf widens between the haves and have-nots, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Has No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service, now become code for No Money, No Social Standing, No Political Clout – don’t let the door hit you on the way out?

Regardless of the politics du jour, the good news is that our Democracy has always encouraged its countrymen to take a seat – or if there’s no room – least, get in line, and take a stand.

Since nothing seems off the table, when it comes to debating, in this power-hungry society, with many left out, often thirsting for more, we invited four legal scholars to offer some food for thought on the American Dream or perhaps folklore ...

Mindy Rush Chipman, 

Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union, Nebraska

• What Does The American Dream Mean To You: 

For many, the American Dream has long represented the best of our nation’s ideals – freedom, equality and opportunity. Over time, however, that meaning has been diluted, often reduced to a narrow and commercialized vision of success: homeownership, financial comfort and a prescribed version of family life.

That framing not only limits the dream – it obscures who has historically been excluded from it. As Nebraska-born Malcolm X made clear, the American Dream has never been equally accessible. For Black Americans and other marginalized communities, it has too often functioned as a promise deferred – or denied altogether – replaced by the lived reality of systemic racism, economic exploitation and structural inequity.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” described civil rights advocates as standing up for “what is best in the American Dream,” calling the nation back to its deepest democratic values. Yet even he later acknowledged that his early faith in that dream had been overly idealistic.

To me, the “American Dream” is not a fixed destination or a guarantee; it is an ongoing, unfinished project. It exists in the tension between our highest ideals and our persistent failures. Whether it is experienced as a dream or a nightmare still depends too heavily on race, identity and circumstance, factors no one chooses. A more honest understanding of the “American Dream” requires us to confront that reality and commit to changing it. It demands not just aspiration, but accountability: the work of ensuring that freedom and opportunity are not selective, but truly shared.

• Has It Changed In Any Way, Since It Was Instilled By Our Founding Fathers: 

History shows our founders understood these ideals differently than we do today. For much of this country’s history, lines of difference have determined our liberty, treatment under the law and access to opportunity. As just one example, think of how long it has taken to expand access to the ballot. Generational work has moved us closer to realizing the promises of our country, but we are not there yet, and there have been major setbacks.

• Is It Still Attainable: 

We can get closer to making the “American Dream” a lived experience.

• What Makes It Difficult: 

Across races, genders and backgrounds, most of us want the same things. We believe in freedom and fair treatment. We would be much closer to realizing the “American Dream” if not for powerful politicians and special interests who feel they have something to gain through social division. The so-called culture wars are a good example of this. If you ask someone what has been worrying them lately, very few are going to bring up their transgender or immigrant neighbor who is just trying to live their life. The recent outsized focus on these identities is no accident; it is a cynical strategy that is designed to distract and divide us in pursuit of more power.

• What Can Be Done Legally To Make Life Fairer For Everyone In This Country: 

Where to start? Right now, many people seeking abortion care face this choice: flee their state for care or carry a pregnancy against their will and at risk to their health. Roe’s fall was a historic loss of freedom for the estimated one in four women who will need abortion care at some point in our lives. We need to restore that individual freedom.

Similarly, young people who are transgender and their families face outright bans or steep political hurdles to accessing needed care in more than half of all states, including Nebraska. The U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong by upholding these discriminatory restrictions. These bans should be repealed and replaced with shield laws to safeguard providers, patients and families.

There is also a pressing need to protect families from the unchecked and unaccountable immigration enforcement activities happening across our country. In this new normal of unidentified, armed and masked agents snatching away our neighbors and loved ones, we are all less safe. There is no question that this risk is highest for people of color. States can respond by passing laws to protect sensitive community spaces like churches, schools and medical centers from immigration enforcement activities. Nebraskans overwhelmingly testified in support of a bill that would do just that earlier this year.

These are just some of the ways in which the law can provide more fairness.

• Are There Any Parts Of The Constitution That Should Be Amended: 

This question reminds me of “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a powerful theatrical production that asks how we can do better as a country. It raises a heartbreaking case in which the Supreme Court ruled against a mother who sued a police department that had failed to enforce a restraining order against her estranged husband. Her husband killed their three daughters. The play showcases ways in which the Constitution has not protected women and reflects on the difference between negative rights, which restrict government action, and positive rights, which require action by the government.

At the end of each performance, the audience votes between two sides of a debate: keeping our founding document or starting over. I have seen this play twice. Both times, the vote was close. However you might vote, it is important to recognize that the Constitution functions as a floor, not a ceiling. States, municipalities and the federal government should build on their guarantees.

Engaging with the specific posed question, the Constitution should be amended with the Equal Rights Amendment, which was co-written by ACLU founder Crystal Eastman more than 100 years ago. This is not a position on its current ratification status, rather the substance of the amendment itself, which expressly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. More recently, the ACLU has supported the idea of a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision that held presidents are presumptively immune from being held accountable for any acts that are within the “outer perimeter” of their responsibilities. That was a blank check to all future presidents to abuse their power and break the law, and I fear we are seeing its ramifications in the second Trump administration.

• Best Way To Safeguard The Constitution And Rule Of Law: 

Do what you can with what you have. Give what you can to organizations on the front lines of this work. Vote.

• What Are Ways To Bridge The Gap Between The Rich And Poor, Privileged Vs. Disadvantaged:

 You cannot separate this question from persistent racial disparities. In Nebraska, about 5% of white families are living below the poverty line. That number is about 20% for Black families. Leaders need to get serious on addressing systemic inequality and barriers that are keeping people from achieving economic security. This is a comprehensive problem that will take a comprehensive solution. Officials should be looking at reform in the criminal legal system, education, health care and more.

Katie L. Kalkowski, 

Attorney at Baird Holm LLP

• What Does The American Dream Mean To You: 

To me, the American Dream is having the freedom and real opportunity to build a meaningful life: to pursue a career I care about, build a family with someone I love, and hopefully leave my city, state, and country a little better for the people who come after me. It’s the ability to grow, to fail and try again, and to make choices for myself. It’s also deeply personal: laughing with friends, showing up for family, feeling rooted in community, and having the space to be authentic about who I am and what I value.

• Has It Changed In Any Way Over The Years: 

At its core, not really. The fundamentals of opportunity, self-determination, and hope for something better have stayed the same. What has changed is my awareness. I see more clearly now that, for some people, the American Dream has always come with more obstacles. I don’t think that realization diminishes the Dream; I think it makes it more honest.

• Is It Still Attainable: 

Yes, but not automatically, and not equally. I believe the American Dream is still possible, but it often requires resilience, support, and a bit of luck. And I also believe there are concrete ways we could make it more attainable if we were willing to be intentional about removing unnecessary barriers and expanding access to opportunity.

• What Makes It Difficult: 

Rising costs of living, access to quality education and healthcare, and economic and geopolitical instability all make it harder for people to feel secure enough to take risks or plan long-term. Beyond that, systems that favor those who already have power or resources reinforce inequality rather than disrupt it. When people are spending all their energy just trying to stay afloat, it becomes much harder to dream, let alone achieve it.

• What Segment Of Population Is It Difficult For And Why: 

It can be especially difficult for people in specific pockets of the population who face structural barriers rooted in racism, sexism, homophobia, economic inequality, and other forms of systemic exclusion. These aren’t abstract concepts; they show up in hiring, housing, education, healthcare, and everyday interactions. When the starting line is different, the race is different, no matter how hard someone works.

• Best Way To Safeguard The Constitution And Rule Of Law: 

Maintaining a true separation of powers is essential, but so is an active and informed public. The Constitution only works if people care enough to engage with it. As citizens we need to vote, to question authority, to think critically. Democracy isn’t passive, and I think at times we’ve been too comfortable, assuming these systems will hold without our attention. They won’t. They require participation.

• What Are Ways To Bridge The Gap Between The Rich And Poor, Privileged Vs. Disadvantaged:

 On an individual level, it’s about turning back to help the person behind you up the ladder. Giving someone a shot who might not be the obvious choice. Looking beyond pedigree, schools, or resumes and valuing lived experience and grit. Being willing to mentor, advocate, and open doors. Small, intentional acts can compound in powerful ways.

• Anything You’d Like To Add: 

As a political science and history enthusiast, I genuinely love thinking about American history, the Constitution, and the “great American experiment.” I think we have so much to be proud of, but also a lot to reckon with. I reject the idea that acknowledging our mistakes is un-American. In fact, I think it’s the most American thing we can do. Learning from our past, owning our failures, and changing course when necessary is how we move closer to forming a more perfect union. Ignoring our history doesn’t protect the Dream; honesty does.

Prof. Kendra Huard Fershee, 

Associate Dean For Academic Affairs, 

Creighton School of Law

• What Does The American Dream Mean To You: 

That a person can live a free and fulfilling life unburdened by unfair and irrational constraints. The lightness of knowing you aren’t going to be held back by something you can’t control. The feeling of peace that comes with a quiet place of respite or a boisterous, supportive community, whichever suits you best. All of these things are possible when the American Dream operates as it should.

• Has It Changed In Any Way, Since It Was Instilled By Our Founding Fathers: 

It has changed in that the Founders contemplated a dream that was almost limitless, but only for the few who could access it. An American Dream that was by definition exclusive to those who had the qualifying characteristics (straight, white, landowning men) cannot endure in a world where the people are supposed to be free to rule themselves.

And so, through the work of the original language of the Constitution, coupled with the sentiments expressed by President Lincoln in the Gettysburg address (“a government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth”) and the Civil War Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) to the Constitution, and the efforts of

countless heroes during the Civil Rights movement, all of which coalesced in a freer and fairer system for all, things have changed. Not enough, but they have changed.

• Is It Still Attainable: 

Yes, if we have the political will for it. It’s always been a bit out of reach for some, but that doesn’t mean that we stop trying.

• What Makes It Difficult: 

For the system to work, we need a robust commitment to the shared endeavor of this Constitutional Republic. Right now, power is being consolidated among the very few in ways that undermine the power of the people. The good news is that the more people recognize the harms inflicted by this, the more they will be motivated to exercise the power they still have to stop the erosion we’re seeing.

• What Can Be Done Legally To Make Life Fairer For Everyone In This Country: 

Speak out against government overreach, elect people who understand that freedom requires a stable economy that doesn’t just benefit the wealthiest Americans, and utilize the law to stop government overreach.

• Are There Any Parts Of The Constitution That Should Be Amended: 

That may not be necessary if all of the tools already in it are actually properly heeded and enforced. The Privileges and Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the First Amendment have all been constricted to the point that they are not serving their (post-Civil War) purposes. Understanding how those provisions can work to guarantee the liberty the Constitution sought to enshrine, but for all people instead of the privileged few, can make it possible for the American Dream to finally unfurl in America.

• Best Way To Safeguard The Constitution And Rule Of Law: 

Lean on the courts to slow the onslaught of attacks on our Bill of Rights from overzealous and unconstitutional government action. Do not erode the rule of law through preemptory compliance with unlawful enforcement.

• What Are Ways To Bridge The Gap Between The Rich And Poor, Privileged Vs. Disadvantaged: 

Support our public institutions, so they serve everyone well. Remember the system doesn’t work without active participation at every level. Fund that which makes individual lives easier and more free, not that which leads to more struggle and constraint.

• Anything You’d Like To Add: 

We must remember that freedom is essential to the Dream, and that you can’t live free if you don’t have a quality education, your health, and a stable community.

Dr. Richard Galusha,

 Professor, Program Director, Bellevue University College of Engineering, Technology and Management

• What Does The American Dream Mean To You: 

The American Dream is the ideal that with hard work, anyone can fulfill their dreams without hindrance from traditional barriers such as class, race, gender, sexuality, or religion.

• Has It Changed In Any Way, Since It Was Instilled By Our Founding Fathers:

Originally, the American Dream included the opportunity to own land. Land was the great equalizer. In the early 1800s, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that Americans had a leg up on Europe in that our society had not been hindered by the burden of a monarch, an aristocracy or the papacy (institutionalized religion).

• Is It Still Attainable: 

As much as it ever was. There is an entrenched mythology of equality of opportunity. But we know some groups did have an inherent advantage in the race of life. As Pink Floyd famously sang, “No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.”

If Americans are good at anything, it is that, over time, they look under the rug and address things like institutional racism, overt religiosity, and, as Warren Buffett called it, “the ovarian lottery” (or the random advantages of family, time, and innate skill predispositions).

• What Makes It Difficult: 

As Springsteen sang, the reality is that “Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king, and the king ain’t satisfied ‘til he rules everything.”

There’s always been a clash between the mythology of equality of opportunity and reality. Today, it seems this has been further warped by a grandiose and sometimes unreasonable expectation of undeserved merit versus the true grit of hard work, tenacity, the importance of character, and dumb luck.

Young people are dealing with the fact that the “even playing field” has been further tilted against the Working and Middle Classes. As citizens, we need to engage and bring about greater equality that reaches out to include everyone regardless of historical barriers. Historically, Americans have been very good about expanding rights to include a larger body – albeit very slowly. Like all generations before them, younger generations are tasked with fulfilling the ever-evolving ideal that “all men are created equal.”

• Anything You’d Like To Add: 

Policies ebb and flow, but character lasts forever. Individual behavior and social norms are more powerful than laws and amendments. Be wary of relying strictly on laws to address societal change. History has shown that raw political power devolves into tyranny – be wary of those willing to force their views onto others.