> The American dream used to be about letting those who work hard succeed, and letting those who didn't fail. I've never heard the latter. When was this true?

> The American dream used to be about letting those who work hard succeed, and letting those who didn't fail. I've never heard the latter. When was this true? According to one history I read, one of the appeals of the New Deal programs in the 1930s is that we would be better than the Old World (i.e., Europe) and not leave our own citizens in the gutter.