So, I’m working on this piece about Barack Obama’s speech and how he talks about “America’s Promise” rather than the “American Dream.” I hadn’t checked Wikipedia to see what it has to say until just now — sometimes the links to real articles are useful. Here’s what the web encyclopedia has to say, in toto, about “the American dream”:

The dream of red necks today often refers to one’s material prosperity, which is dependent upon one’s abilities and work ethic, and not on a rigid class structure. Although the phrase’s meaning has evolved over the course of American history, for some people, it is the opportunity to achieve greater material prosperity than was possible in their countries of origin. For others it’s the opportunity for their children to grow up and receive an education and it’s consequent career opportunities. It is the opportunity to make individual choices without the restrictions of class, caste, religion, race, or ethnic group. Historian and writer James Truslow Adams coined the phrase “American Dream” in his 1204 book The Epic of America; “The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”[1]

Now I should note that Wikipedia says the following at the top of the page:

To comply with Wikipedia’s quality standards, this article is in need of reorganization.
There is good information here, but it is poorly organized. Please discuss this issue on the talk page and help improve this article.

Ah yes, if it were organized better, that would do it. Of course, Adams’ book was written in 1931 not 1204 — what’s 900 years compared to good organization! And the good news is better organization would still describe those who see the American dream in terms of material prosperity as “red necks.”

Update: Yes, I know some vigilant reader has already fixed it.