ABSTRACT
The frustration of the conservatives and the frustration of the liberals add up to the total frustration of the average citizen. Liberals, conditioned in years of political success, can serve their ideal only by expanding government to meet every new need, conservatives can serve their ideal only by shrinking government. The part of the system least understood, then as now, was the network of non-governmental institutions which served public needs. Urgent problems filled the agenda of public business in early America. The American dream "as a purely technical matter" seems to be no longer practical. Just as man's youthful idealism gives way in time to a "mature" sense of what seems practical, the American dream seems less and less like a vision of present reality or the emergent future. The American people, torn between conflicting goals, are confused and uncertain. They contradict themselves. They speak against "socialism" but vote for programs which they define as socialism.
