Say's Law

Everyone doesn't always totally trust everyone else. No, but it is just that we just SAY we do.

So, there is what we say, and there is what we do. What we say:

Everybody has the same rights. And they are all equals. And whether this actually makes any sense is not the point. The "American dream" is a set of ideas upon which a society is erected. And an actual society exists. This (the "base") is accompanied by (the superstructure of...) a "dream." The American dream is that everyone is equal.

But a real society is there as well, which means a real base is there. That is American culture. You're soaking in it. The whole thing would not work without the sharing of information. This is of course related to that other idea, the whole thing of everyone being equal.
     The truth is that America has quite a few different kinds of person in it. Not all share. But all are part of the culture. Everyone can be counted on to spout the same rhetoric. Everyone is equal, etc.
     By sharing information, which is the case in the general sense, not the case with every specific individual, the system, in general, tends towards success. This is the American system, and it is a temporary success, which ends when it ends.
     Google's whole entrepreneurial "innovation" was simply to re-tread the same old idea of sharing information. Every bit of information is equal....you get the picture. And it is the same old picture.
     It's the same old American idea. But we said that there are many different kinds of person, and some of them do not actually share anything. Even if businessmen gather around a long rectangular table (even a round one, goodness sakes) some of those around it are sharing. Some are not.
    
     Everyone is not equal. I mean, really It is ridiculous, really. It is the most ridiculous tripe. Really. But most of your true to type  Americans believe this! Now wait a minute. Do they? No, not really --- and what is "real" is pertinent. There is a real society and a real culture there. Not everyone really believes it but they are perfectly happy to say they do. It is not costing them anything.

     So, not everyone actually believes everyone is equal, not in the real sense, not actually, but there is a kind of rhetoric that forms some kind of rhetorical, ideological foundation for the society to go forward. The rhetorical foundation is to say that we trust everyone else. And, it isn't just rhetorical. It has a lot of reality to it, because this openess fuels the whole economy. Businessmen quietly reap the benefits, even thought they don't really believe it.

     So, equality is the story of capitalism. Ideas about equality fuel American society. Ideas about human equality create a strong capitalism. The American dream society is a society that pretends towards equality.