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BILL MOYERS: Here at the Journal, we continually hold to the light the multifaceted set of beliefs and ideas that inform our democracy. We often explore the hopes and aspirations that sustain us as a people. What we and the rest of the world call the "American dream."
You can go to our Web site at pbs.org and tell us what you think the American dream should be. You could also find many of the men and women who have appeared on the Journal and be able to hear their vision for the future of the American dream.

KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL: There's no one dream, but if I had to think of what I would hope for is respect, dignity, fairness, justice. Those are words that need to be fleshed in and filled in. But those to me are so much a part of what this country could be about.

WILLIAM GREIDER: It's not just about political reform and financial reform and dealing with global warming and dealing with an oversized military and etc, etc. It's about Americans kind of reconsidering what they really want in this society, and what really matters.

JOAN CLAYBROOK: Most people really want to have a government that inspires trust and hope for the future, for them and for their children. That requires citizens to at least exercise their right and their capacity, whatever it may be, to be participants in the future of America. Because that's how we're going to achieve it.

SCOTT BITTLE: And it's not just about what happens at elections. It's about being engaged in decisions between elections, in their daily lives, so people feel they have control, they have a say, that their voice counts. These are things we're really lacking right now. And I don't think we can have the American dream without that.

MELISSA HARRIS LACEWELL: It's always about collective action. It's not an end place to which we arrive; it's a process. It is the process of being together in our democracy. So for me the big question of the American dream has to do with whether or not we can together improvise and create something great.

DOUGLAS BLACKMON: I think that we've arrived at a moment in American life when there's a willingness to talk about the past, talk about how to extend opportunity to everybody. And I think that we're on the verge of a very different kind of pursuit of the American dream, and in a way that hopefully, some of these terrible vestiges of the past finally fall away.

LEILA FADEL: I think the future of the American dream is the essence of what America should be, a transparent government that doesn't arrest people on secret evidence, and a place that I can say truly that I know I can have an effect on my nation and my government without them hiding things from me.

GLENN GREENWALD: Americans almost feel apologetic about what our nation has stood for and what it's been doing and I think reversing that and restoring the sense of pride that Americans have about being Americans is equally important for the American dream

THOMAS FRANK: This country is about equality. And it's about everybody having a voice. And I think one of these days I think the American dream is going to shift from "I want to get rich" to "I want everybody to be able to have things like healthcare, a decent standard of living," you know? I want democracy.

ELIZABETH RUBIN: It would be wonderful if one day the American dream started to dissipate and it became a global idea. I would like to see a world dream, you know? People around the world can have the same dreams and be able to fulfill them the way people can by coming to America. You shouldn't have to come to America anymore to have the American dream.

JOHN LITHGOW: This is a moment of extraordinary optimism and extraordinary fear. And we've been there before, and American positivism has managed to overcome our fears. And that's my hope. And I'm pretty sure we're going to do it.

BILL MOYERS: You'll find many more ideas about the American dream, and you can tell us your own, on the Moyers blog at pbs.org.

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