Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream

In this essay, Smith develops two of the major themes evident throughout Stakes is High: the heroization of politicians versus collective calls to action, and the illusion of American democracy. The essay serves as the foundation of Smith’s central premise for the rest of the book: the idea that the American project is a myth, one that has deluded the vast majority of Americans into believing in what Smith calls an “American monoculture” (24), apolitical in nature and selective in its memory of history. By asserting that American ideals are not grounded in reality, but in aspiration, Smith calls the entire American project into question. By claiming that the American Dream is a delusion, Smith takes on the responsibility of determining what is in fact real about the United States.

One of Smith’s observations about one of America’s political realities is the obsession with the American presidency, which contributes to the belief in the delusion in the American project. Smith writes: “The president is regarded as both the leader and ultimate symbol of our nation, and as such is supposed to embody our mythical selves, not our reality” (23). By mythologizing the president, Americans downplay their own role in constructing the American experience. The problem with this mythologizing, according to Smith, is that Americans ignore the fact that “the people of this country have never truly been united, beyond the framework of idealism” (25). The specific example of Donald Trump’s presidency exposes the cracks of this belief, because Trump undermines the premise that the president should be a symbolic representative of its people.

Smith’s denunciation of the American democracy as mere illusion is exemplified by Trump’s bizarre reference to Frederick Douglass in the present tense and to White America’s coopting of Dr. King’s message. According to Smith, Douglass and Dr. King have been captured into one central narrative about America, as Douglass is now “as American as the golden retriever” (31), and Dr. King is “treated as an American triumph” (42). The American project is a myth, because even its fiercest critics become examples of its success, through a process of rewriting history in benefit of the myth.

In addition to these historical examples, Smith also contextualizes the illusion of American democracy in a contemporary context. Even if Americans fully accept the grimmest realities of its history, insisting on “flattering ourselves is part of how we ended up here” (51). Thus, while incremental progress is valuable, the necessary path for long-lasting change in America must be systemic in nature. Events such as the 2016 election, according to Smith, emphasizes the reality that America “is a country so fearful of its biggest challenges that it would rather wither away under the leadership of committed liars than face the judgment of its own history” (52). This claim, contextualized by the Trump presidency, emphasizes Smith’s belief that the myth of the American Dream is not merely a consequence of America’s troubled history, but a reflection of its ongoing inclinations.