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Tehran, July 17, 2004

Dear Richard,

For some years, I have been asking myself why in my country, Iran,

America is considered as a land of dreams and success. Your recent trip to Iran gave a

new dimension to my questioning and made me more determined to write you this letter

and to share with you my point of view on the adequacy and legitimacy of what is

known today by he non-Americans as the American Dream.

It is difficult to live through the opening years of the new millennium,

symbolized tragically the nightmare of September 11 and the two American wars in

Iraq and Afghanistan, without stumbling on the concept of the American Century

formulated in a 1941 Life magazine article of the same name by Henry Luce. This

lengthy article hardly read by anyone is clearly devoted to what Luce calls Americaninternationalism. The last paragraph of the article is not very distant from my fears and

anxieties concerning the real face of the American Dream in our world. The other day,

denotes Luce, Herbert Hoover said that America was fast becoming the sanctuary of the

ideals of civilization. For the moment it may be enough to be the sanctuary of these

ideals. But not for long. It now becomes our time to be the power house from which the

ideals spread throughout the world and do their mysterious work of lifting the life of

mankind from the level of the beasts to what the Psalmist called a little lower than

angels. America as the dynamic center of ever-widening spheres of enterprise, America

as the training center of the skillful servants of mankind, America as the Good

Samaritan, really believing again that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and

America as the powerhouse of the ideals of Freedom and Justice- out of these elements

surely can be fashioned a vision of the 20 th century to which we can and will devote

ourselves in joy and gladness and vigor and enthusiasm.".

Luce's appeal can be seen (and it was seen) by some as a call for U.S.

imperialism and the creation of a capitalist and militarist century. Yet, what is important

is the American Dream as the typical expression of the American century. It is yet

unavoidable to think that America is now the only superpower left free too define and

impose its dream in the new world order. To some people it represents a chauvinistic

clich, to others it represents a symbol of good life and success. Some even believe that

the American Dream has proven to be an effective tool ever invented for the subversion

of other cultures. No doubt, people all over the world dream of the American Dream.But let us not forget that the American Dream is the centerpiece of a national intention,

which holds the Americans so tightly together. The American Dream is not only the

dream of the Americans, but the dream of others to become American. From the very

beginning, America, the land of freedom, has been worlds dream: a society built on

new foundations, held together by no traditions, but by the idea of a generous and

hospitable country open to any experience. I believe that the secret of the American

Dream lies in the invention of America as a dream. Every invention is the result of a

dream, but not every dream is the result of an invention. Clearly, 1492 marks something

deeper than the arrival on an island of a man called Columbus in a boat. It enshrines the

American Dream as the founding principle of America. The idea that Columbuss

journey was the result of a dream had many consequences. It defined America as anew land and cast its past into an imaginary time. In the centuries that followed

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Columbus, new images of America were constructed and this perpetuated the tradition

of the American Dream. Central to this tradition has been a persistent faith in the values

of democratic individualism as the indispensable guardians of personal dignity and

individual opportunity. They are the essence of the dream that has America. It reminds

of this phrase of John Locke in the Second Treatise of Government : In the beginning

all the world was America. The phrase represents for us non-Americans a New Worldwhere anything can happen and any ream can become reality. Millions of immigrants

(and among them Iranians) have moved to America to participate in the idea of the

American Dream and to fulfill their own version of it. Thus, it can be said that the

American Dream is not uniquely American. As once martin Luther King said, we are

all children of the Dream. Yet, for King Americans can not be free unless people are

free in the Third World nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America. I believe that today

the dream of King can help us initiate a dialogue which will establish a plural

globalization as a new paradigm for understanding and reshaping the world order.

Therefore far from being a fictional construct embroidered with false myths and

fantasies the American Dream creates a new sphere of openness between America and

the world. It is a dream of inventing a new world, but also a new America.I look forward to receiving your response and to learning more on your

ideas concerning the American Dream and its relevance for our world.

Yours Ever

Ramin Jahanbegloo (Tehran)