Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Candidates urged to discuss opportunity

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 1, 2004 at 1:30 PM

DALLAS, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The author of a new book about the "American Dream" said Friday the presidential candidates should talk about how to make that possible for all citizens.

The dream remains elusive for many Americans, such as those mired in poverty, said Cal Jillson, author of "Pursuing the American Dream: Opportunity and Exclusion Over Four Centures."

Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said the candidates need to talk more about helping the poor with education and jobs and lifting the burden from women who face the challenge of balancing work and family duties.

Two-thirds of the American people believe the dream is becoming harder to achieve, especially for young families, according to a survey released this week by the National League of Cities.

The survey also found an 11 percent growth since 2001 in the number of Americans who believe that government is more of a hindrance than a help in achieving the dream.

Topics: Cal Jillson
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Five arrested in prostitution sting. Article lists their names, ages and distance from a church
Photoshop this power tower technician
Driving drunk and unlicensed, with a kid not even buckled let alone in a safety seat, en route to...
Man killed in Spencer fire. The lava lamps must have ignited the blacklight posters
Passenger jet crashes into apartment building in Nigerian capitol. Over 150 princes, bank officials,...
I'll see your zombie apocalypse, and raise you "swarms of deadly spiders" invading a town in India...