An opinion piece by Jeffrey Baldwin, Director of The LIBRE Institute.
The Fourth of July is a celebration of America’s founding ideals, freedom, opportunity, and the belief that anyone willing to work hard can build a better future.
But after another Independence Day has passed, one question deserves our attention: Is the American Dream becoming harder to reach? For many Hispanic families, the answer is becoming increasingly uncertain. They still believe in the American Dream, but they’re increasingly worried it’s becoming harder to achieve.
For generations, Hispanic families have believed in a simple promise: if you work hard, play by the rules, and take responsibility for your future, you can build a better life for yourself and your children.
That promise has inspired countless sacrifices. It has motivated parents to work long hours, entrepreneurs to start businesses, and families to leave behind uncertainty in pursuit of opportunity. It is the promise at the heart of the American Dream.
The American Dream isn’t dead. But confidence that the next generation will have the same opportunity is beginning to fade.
Our recent national poll at The LIBRE Institute tells that story. Hispanic families haven’t lost faith in hard work, personal responsibility, or the promise of America. What many are losing is confidence that those values alone will be enough to help the next generation succeed. In fact, 90% believe the American Dream is harder to achieve today than it once was, while 64% believe government makes it harder to get ahead. Rising costs, housing affordability, economic uncertainty, and limited opportunities for upward mobility have left many families wondering whether the path to success is becoming more difficult than it should be.
Parents are asking whether their children will ever be able to afford a home. Small business owners are wondering whether they can continue growing their businesses. Young adults are questioning whether the opportunities that inspired previous generations will still exist for them.
This conversation isn’t simply about inflation or housing prices.
It’s about whether opportunity itself is becoming harder to find.
The success of our country has never been built solely on government programs or economic statistics. It has been built on the ability of ordinary people to improve their circumstances through hard work, innovation, and determination. When people believe their efforts can lead to progress, communities thrive. When they begin to doubt that progress is possible, confidence in the future begins to erode.
That is particularly important for Hispanic communities, which continue to be among the most entrepreneurial and economically dynamic groups in the nation. Latino-owned businesses have grown dramatically in recent years, creating jobs, strengthening local economies, and expanding opportunity in communities across America. But entrepreneurship, homeownership, and financial stability all become harder to achieve when barriers to opportunity continue to grow.
Protecting the American Dream means more than preserving economic growth. It means ensuring that families have the freedom to build better lives. It means creating an environment where hard work is rewarded, education opens doors, and entrepreneurship can flourish.
At The LIBRE Institute, we see these aspirations every day. Through financial literacy programs, educational opportunities, and community engagement, we work alongside individuals who are striving to improve their lives and create brighter futures for their families. Their stories remind us that the American Dream is still very much alive, but we cannot take it for granted.
The good news is that Hispanic families have not lost faith in the values that have long driven success. They still believe in hard work. They still believe in opportunity. They still believe in the promise of America.
The challenge before us is making sure those values continue to produce opportunity, not just for this generation, but for the next.
The Fourth of July may be behind us, but the conversation it should inspire is just beginning. Independence Day is more than a celebration of our nation’s past. It is a reminder that the freedoms and opportunities we cherish must be protected if they are to endure.
The American Dream isn’t dead. But neither is it guaranteed.
Every generation has a choice: protect the opportunity that made it possible, or risk becoming the generation that let it slip away.