American Dream

The Maryland Dream Act should not be a partisan issue. It would enable children of illegal immigrants who are eligible for higher education to receive discounted in-state tuition provided that they, or their parents, have paid a considerable amount of taxes for the last three years. For me, it is a humanitarian issue. I volunteer at an elementary school in the Baltimore area which has an immigrant student population of around 40 percent. That someone would deny the opportunity of higher education to any of these children because their parents' misdeeds years ago (now substantially corrected by their current taxpaying, law-abiding status)

Here's a wake-up call for Gov. Martin O'Malley and other supporters of PlanMaryland: The American Dream has never been a red brick row-house or even a condo with a Starbucks, Whole Foods and North Face store on the ground floor. It's a suburban or rural single-family home, with a white picket fence out front, two cars in the driveway and kids playing with the dog in the backyard. Few Italians or Greeks live in Little Italy or Greektown any more because their descendants have achieved the American dream, and they have quite literally moved on to greener pastures.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, speaking at the Howard County Lincoln Day dinner Friday night, offered no specifics about what he would do if elected the nation's leader, but he didn't need to. Cain, 65, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a cancer survivor and an Atlanta radio talk-show host, got a sustained standing ovation, punctuated by loud cheers, from more than 300 people at the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City just for...

Andre Budd, a Polish immigrant and self-made businessman who established a Highlandtown machine shop, died Wednesday from complications after kidney surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Sparks resident was 77. The son of a factory worker and a housekeeper, Mr. Budd was born in Warsaw, Poland. After his father died in a concentration camp, Mr. Budd and his mother and brother left Poland and immigrated to New York, landing at Ellis Island. "I think his mother had $3, and they made their way to Baltimore where their sponsor lived," said his son, Andre T. "Andy" Budd of Lutherville.

The two seemingly unrelated events took place only a day apart. On the 19th of June, a 22-year-old Northern Irishman waved his putter in triumph on the 18th green of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. A day later, at the Park Shore Centre Government Building in Charleston, S.C., a petite, 41-year-old Thai immigrant waved her small American flag and held up her Certificate of Citizenship. The golfer's victory was shared by a gallery of thousands. Millions watched worldwide as the young man broke records and told the press he had realized the dream of his short lifetime.

Uncharacteristically, I want to begin this column with some good news on the economic front, though it will be brief: Across the country, state tax revenues are rising substantially, indicating there is a real recovery going on. For the spendthrift federal government, tax receipts rose by $110 billion, or 9.1 percent, in the first seven months of fiscal 2011. In telling us this, The Wall Street Journal says the bad news is that the federal deficit increased a record $871 billion, a $71 billion dollar bump, because spending went up $181 billion, or 6.4 percent.

If it's for love -- if you can envision raising kids or growing old there -- then by all means, buy a house if you are able, says Mitchell Levy, author of "Home Ownership: The American Myth."But if it's for money, then he advises to think again and consider, of all things, renting."I'm telling people to get back to the old-fashioned idea that a house is a home, and not necessarily an investment," said Mr. Levy, a manager with Sun Microsystems Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif.If owning one's home is tantamount to the American dream, certainly renting is not the financial nightmare many have made it out to be, he says.

DALLAS -- Warning that the United States is "on the edge of a severe recession or depression," Ross Perot is urging the nation's leaders to "get started now" on revitalizing the economy, adding that he may soon run television ads to highlight the dangers of not taking tough measures immediately.At the present rate of decline, he declared yesterday, "The American dream is gone."But Mr. Perot also expressed optimism that economic revitalization can be achieved. "We can do it now. And if we do it carefully and do it well, we can avoid an economic catastrophe," he said in the first interview he has given to a newspaper since quitting the race abruptly last Thursday.

How does this lament strike you?Our pay raises are zilch, and our job security is history.Our bank accounts are skimpy. Our debts are hefty, and our dreams of buying a first house or a bigger house or affording the kids' college bills are mirages.We got the right degrees. We worked hard. We played by the rules. But our days are not the sunny ones we or our parents expected.If you are nodding in agreement, then you belong to the generation of disgruntled baby boomers who, according to Katherine Newman, will be the first since the Great Depression not to do better financially than their parents.

LOS ANGELES -- I was more than a little embarrassed. Owls were desperately trying to deliver Harry Potter's acceptance letter to Hogwart's School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, and I was thinking about -- urban sprawl! Harry's mean-spirited and middle-class adopted family, the Dursleys, live at No. 4 Privet Drive. The Dursleys, however, don't live in the heart of London, or in a middle-class urban neighborhood. Nope, they live in decidedly suburban England, in a townhouse attached to four or five other homes of the same style.

The two seemingly unrelated events took place only a day apart. On the 19th of June, a 22-year-old Northern Irishman waved his putter in triumph on the 18th green of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. A day later, at the Park Shore Centre Government Building in Charleston, S.C., a petite, 41-year-old Thai immigrant waved her small American flag and held up her Certificate of Citizenship. The golfer's victory was shared by a gallery of thousands. Millions watched worldwide as the young man broke records and told the press he had realized the dream of his short lifetime.

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, speaking at the Howard County Lincoln Day dinner Friday night, offered no specifics about what he would do if elected the nation's leader, but he didn't need to. Cain, 65, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a cancer survivor and an Atlanta radio talk-show host, got a sustained standing ovation, punctuated by loud cheers, from more than 300 people at the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City just for...

The Maryland Dream Act should not be a partisan issue. It would enable children of illegal immigrants who are eligible for higher education to receive discounted in-state tuition provided that they, or their parents, have paid a considerable amount of taxes for the last three years. For me, it is a humanitarian issue. I volunteer at an elementary school in the Baltimore area which has an immigrant student population of around 40 percent. That someone would deny the opportunity of higher education to any of these children because their parents' misdeeds years ago (now substantially corrected by their current taxpaying, law-abiding status)

We graduate from college, full of enthusiasm and ideas. Most of us were inspired by one or more teachers in our youth, and we want to share that enthusiasm, our love of learning or love of our subject matter. We all care about students and education and really want to make a difference. In the beginning, we willingly accept the extra assignments, even ask for them. We run the school paper, the yearbook, the clubs. Many of us volunteer to coach athletics. While we may get a small stipend, it amounts to very little when we add up the extra hours — but we don't mind because we are making a difference, we are working with children.

Uncharacteristically, I want to begin this column with some good news on the economic front, though it will be brief: Across the country, state tax revenues are rising substantially, indicating there is a real recovery going on. For the spendthrift federal government, tax receipts rose by $110 billion, or 9.1 percent, in the first seven months of fiscal 2011. In telling us this, The Wall Street Journal says the bad news is that the federal deficit increased a record $871 billion, a $71 billion dollar bump, because spending went up $181 billion, or 6.4 percent.

What a stirring article by Dan Rodricks about new citizens being sworn in July 4. I was fortunate enough several years ago to attend the swearing in of a Russian émigré. I wish all Americans could have a chance to see what it really means to be an American. We who were born here take so much for granted. Those who come to our shores escaping persecution take becoming a citizen as a privilege and a treasured bonus after a long journey. The swearing-in ceremony is full of the best of America: the sincerity and thankfulness of those becoming citizens; the warmth and acceptance of the officials.

TYPICAL AMERICAN.Gish Jen.Seymour LawrenceHoughton Mifflin.296 pages. $19.95.The American Dream is a powerful allure for all of us -- buespecially for immigrants. Traditionally, the United States has been home to those longing for a different order. These people have been a great source of strength and renewal. They have come, paid their dues and contributed to our ever resurgent economic growth.But the American Dream has a dark side, too. We have traded a class system based upon birth for one based upon money.