“The American Dream [is] one of the greatest ideas in the history of human achievement... It thrives today in an age when its core components of freedom and opportunity are open to more Americans than ever before. It holds a real, identifiable place in the American heart and mind, and it informs the aspirations of everyone from farmers to software developers, from detectives to bankers, from soldiers to social workers... It defines us as a people, even as we add to its meaning with each new chapter in our national experience and our individual actions.”

                                                      - Dan Rather