The American Dream vs Pragmatics?

Jessica Watson has non-stop, unaided sailed around the world in a 30 foot boat. The yacht tilted 6 times! With her 16 years of age she is the youngest one to have done the about 23,000 nautical miles in 210 days. She said when she arrived in Sydney: "I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream, you don't have to be something special to achieve something big. You just have to have a dream, believe in it, and work hard, anything is possible".

Is just doing what works, ie, pragmatics, replacing the American Dream? Has it become Australian? Social mobility is actually higher in Europe. It occurred to me that the American Dream and pragmatics are somewhat incompatible. Just doing what works, means that you don't take risks. Politics in Great Britain has become pragmatic, supposedly. It used to be that one needed ideology to find common ground to be able to work together. Now something else is replacing this and thus forces a common ground. Is this with maintained happiness?

There is a growing dichotomy between the elites and the common man in society. Perhaps the best example is the Tea Party movement in the US. But there is also a very important difference between the elites in Europe and publicum. In Germany, for example there is a 60% majority that does not want to help Greece. Who is right? When it comes to the wisdom of the people it is significant today with some 25-30% of people having the equivalent of a College degree and most people with a good schooling and immersed in information all through life. Whenever the elite faces a problem that it can't solve, which is quite often, it should refer to the people. The dreamers.

Unemployment is grand today in Europe and particularly in Sweden. Follow your dreams!