What is the Ideal American Life?

The U.S. Conception of the 'Good Life' is a Bad One

Sometimes, we say phrases over and over, and assume uncritically that these phrases must be true. Perhaps we think that they must be true simply because we say them so much. There are a lot of phrases, though, that we say all the time, and which are plainly false. For example: "When it rains, it pours." "Where there's smoke, there's fire." "What goes around comes around."

Well, false, false and false. It sometimes rains without pouring, it sometimes smokes with no fire, and some vicious men deal out wickedness and get away with it. Even if these claims are true in some cases, they don't apply to all cases, and as such, are literally false.

On what gounds does the claim rest?

A claim of this variety I'd like to investigate here is one with regard to the good life. The locution 'the good life' is a staple in the Americana lingo. But the good life actually has a specific conversational implicature, at least in the U.S. The idea is that, to live the good life, is to live a life of wealth and comfort. What is a paragon instance of a life of such wealth and comfort? Usually, such a life is depicted-especially in American cinema-by a scene in which a man and woman are sitting in lawn chairs, drinking margaritas, either in a yacht or by a beach. The assumption is that they are able to do this because they need not work.

Perhaps this is intuitive to you. As is suggested in Office Space, what might be desirable to do if financially secure is 'nothing.' But let's think about this a little bit. What does it say about someone if they view life in such a way that, if they could interact in the world in any way they wish, they would not interact at all. I know one way you can not interact in the world at all-suicide. Literally taking yourself out of the world is the maximally efficacious way to not interact in the world and do nothing. And so, theoretically, those who think the good life is sitting around in a chair doing nothing should consider suicide as a more efficient way to reach their goals.

Critical Assessment