The argument that people only work for rewards is a popular one with several of my friends, two of whom are millionaires. They explain to me that, if you take away the rewards (by which they mean monetary rewards), people won't work. Wealthy, middle income, or poor, they define and limit the American Dream to capitalistic ideals and that limited edition has become the political religion of our times. But I think that belief in capitalism as the one and only motivator and guide says more about those particular friends and folks like them than about the human spirit in general and actually short-changes their own humanity.
These friends have bought the simplistic myth of capitalism as a raison d'etre - I work, therefore I am. This misunderstanding or simplistic focus leads many of them to labor long and arduously at jobs they don't enjoy, and more of them fail than succeed. Hence the1%, the10%, and the 89% we see today.
By defining the American Dream as a narrow, a-moral economic system, they are liable to miss out on the true riches of the broader American Dream and the lifestyle it offers. A good many of us define the American Dream more broadly and deeply as the freedom to be yourself and exercise your gifts for the good of yourself and your community - which includes the planet on which that community rests and by which it is supported.
